\m 

ili 

iiiiiiiitiiui 


s:  /6 .  IP. 


^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^*h 

Presented    by  7)V\(^    (9\uA^V-i  O  r*  . 

BX  6217  .S83  1912  v. 2 
Strong,  Augustus  Hopkins, 

1836-1921. 
Miscellanies 


MISCELLANIES 

VOLUME   II 
CHIEFLY  THEOLOGICAL 


MISCELLANIES 


VOLUME  II 

CHIEFLY  THEOLOGICAL 


AUGUSTUS  HOPKINS  STRONG,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

PRESIDENT  AND  PROFESSOR  OF  BIBLICAL  THEOLOGY  IN  TUF   ROCHESTER 

THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY;  AUTHOR  OF  "  SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY,  IN 

THREE  volumes";    "OUTLINES   OF  SYSTEMATIC  THEOLOGY  "; 

"PHILOSOPHY   AND    RELIGION";    "THE   GREAT 

POETS    AND    THEIR    THEOLOGY";     "CHRIST    IN 

CREATION    AND    ETHICAL    MONISM" 


THE  GRIFFITH  &  ROWLAND  PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA 
BOSTON        CHICAGO        ST    LOUIS        TORONTO.  CAN 


Copyright  1912  by 
A.  J.  ROWLAND,  Secretary 


Published  May,  1912 


CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  II 

XXV 

The  Theology  of  Schleiermacher,  as  Illus- 
trated BY  ins  Life  and  Correspondence.    1-57 

Lectures  delivered  before  the  McCormick  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  Chicago,  111.,  December  5  and  7, 
1911. 

XXVI 

EZEKIEL     GilMAN      RobINSON,     AS     A      THEOLO- 
GIAN          58-109 

Contributed  as  a  chapter  in  "  Ezekiel  Gilman  Robin- 
son:  An  Autobiography,"'  published  by  Silver,  Burdett 
&  Co.,  and   now   reprinted   with   their   permission. 

XXVII 
Degeneration    1 10-128 

An  essay  read  before  the  Alpha  Chi  Club,  Roches- 
ter^  December  12,  1907. 

XXVIII 
The  Use  of  the  Will  in  Religion 129-141 

A  sermon  preached  in  the  Congregational  Church, 
Canandaigua,  N.  Y.,  on  the  fourth  day  of  July,  1909, 
on  the  text,  Phil.  2:  12,  13:  "  Work  out  your  own  sal- 
vation witii  fear  and  trembling;  for  it  is  God  who 
worketh  in  you,  both  to  will  and  to  work,  for  his 
good  pleasure." 

XXIX 

Removing  Mountains   142-15S 

A  sermon  preached  at  the  dedication  of  the  Cal- 
vary Baptist  Church,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  May  18,  1910. 

V 


VI  CONTENTS    OF    VOLUME    II 

XXX 
Citizenship  in   Heaven 159-174 

A  sermon  preached  in  the  Congregational  Church, 
Canandaigua,  N.  Y.,  on  the  text,  Phil.  3 :  20 :  "  Our 
citizenship  is  in  heaven,"  May  26,  1907. 

XXXI 
Fear  in  Religion 175-180 

A  sermon  preaclied  in  Sage  Chapel,  Cnrnell  Uni- 
versity, Ithaca,   X.   Y.,  March,   1898. 

XXXII 
Paul's  Thorn  in  the  Flesh 190-203 

A  sermon  preached  in  the  First  Baptist  Church, 
New   Britain,   Conn.,  June    17,    1897. 

XXXIII 
Christ's  Moral  System 204-218 

A  sermon  preached  in  the  Emmanuel  Baptist 
Church,  Albany,  X.  Y.,  July  29,  1883. 

XXXIV 
Present  Values   219-232 

A  sermon  preaclied  at  the  or<lination  of  C.  A. 
McAlpine,  in  the  Bronson  Avenue  Church,  Roches- 
ter, N.  Y.,  June  10,  1904. 

XXXV 
Little  Things 233-247 

A  sermon  preached  in  tlie  I'^irst  Presbyterian 
Church,  Rochester,   X.  Y.,  May  26,   1889 

XXXVI 
Open  Vision    248-260 

A  sermon  preached  in  the  Parsells  Avenue  Baptist 
Church,  Rochester,  X.  Y.,  at  the  ordination  of 
Samuel  F.  Langford,  September   13,   1904. 


CONTENTS    dF    VOLUME    II  VU 

XXXVII 
Obedience  before  Knowledge 261-276 

A  l)accalaurcatc  sermon,  preaclicd  at  Dcnisoii  Uni- 
versity. Granville,  Ohio,  June  23,   1S73. 

XXXVIII 
The  Genealogy  of  Jesus 277-297 

A  sermon  preached  before  the  Ministers'  Institute, 
Granville,  Ohio,  July   i,   1870. 

XXXIX 
Confessing  Christ  298-309 

A  sermon  preached  in  tlic  First  Laptist  Church, 
Oswego,  N.  Y.,  February  4.  1900. 

XL 
The  Tears  of  Jesus 310-327 

A  sermon  preached  in  the  Calvary  Baptist  Church, 
New  York  City.  July   lO,   1SS2. 

XLI 
Prevenient  Grace   3-8-339 

A  sermon  preached  in  the  Wilder  Street  Baptist 
Church,  Rochester.  X.  Y..  at  the  ordination  of 
I.  M.  De  Puy,  September  21.  1897. 

XLII 

The  Suffering  and  the  Blessed  God...   340-358 

A  sermon  preached  at  the  ordination  of  William 
Gaylord  James,  as  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
Fort  Plain,  X.  Y.,  June  2-,  190J. 

XLITI 
Unconsciousness  of  Sin 359-376 

A  sermon  preached  in  Sage  Chapel.  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, Ithaca,   X.  Y.,  October  3,   1886. 


VIU  CONTENTS    OF    \  OLUME  _H 

XLIV 
The  Help  of  the  Spiurr  in  Prayer Ci77'2>9^ 

A  sermon  preached  in  the  First  Baptist  Church, 
Rochester,  N.   Y.,  January  4,   1874. 

XLV 

The   Christian's   Resources 392-401 

A  sermon  preached  in  the  Delaware  Avenue  Bap- 
tist Church,  Buffalo,  X.  Y.,  November  12,  1893. 

XLVI 
That  which   is   Past 402-419 

A  sermon  preached  in  the  First  Baptist  Church, 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  on  the  last  Sunday  evening  of  the 
year. 

XLVI  I 
Addresses    to    Graduating    Classes    of    the 
Rochester  Theological  Seminary  from 

1900  TO  1912 420-493 

1900 :  Loyalty   420-427 

1901  :  Right   Beginnings    427-432 

1902 :  More   to   Follow^ 432-439 

1903 :  No    Other    Foundation 439-445 

1904 :  Breadth   in   the   Minister 445-451 

1905 :  Made  unto  us  Wisdom 451-456 

1906 :  Prayer    and    Ministry 456-461 

1907 :  Singleness    of    Mind 461-468 

1908 :  The  Joy  of  the  Lord 468-472 

1909 :  Unsearchable  Riches    472-477 

1910 :  Hold  Fast    477-481 

191 1 :  Leadership     481-487 

1912:  Rewards   of   the   Ministry 487-493 


XXV 

THE   THEOLOGY  OF   SCHLEIERMACHER, 

AS  ILLUSTRATED  BY  HIS  LIFE  AND 

CORRESPONDENCE  ^ 

I.  On  the  fifteenth  of  February,  1834,  the  city  of  Ber- 
hn  witnessed  a  remarkable  funeral.  Twelve  students  of 
the  university  bore  upon  their  shoulders  a  coffin  cov- 
ered with  a  black  pall,  upon  which  rested  a  large  copy 
of  the  Bible.  Twenty-four  other  students  served  as 
a  guard  of  honor.  Then  came  a  procession  on  foot 
fully  a  mile  in  length,  and  this  was  followed  by  a 
hundred  mourning  coaches,  those  of  the  king  and  of 
the  crown  prince  leading  the  way.  Along  the  whole 
line  of  march  the  streets  were  bordered  with  dense 
crowds  of  reverent  spectators,  while  additional  thou- 
sands awaited  the  cortege  at  the  cemetery.  It  was  a 
day  of  universal  sorrow,  for  the  people  of  the  German 
capital  felt  that  their  greatest  intellectual  and  spiritual 
light  had  been  put  out.  It  was  the  funeral  of  Friedrich 
Daniel  Ernst  Schleiermacher. 

To  study  Schleiermacher  is  to  study  a  great  man 
and  a  great  life.  Few  men  in  history  have  so  united 
intellectual  acumen  with  tenderness  of  heart.  He  had 
extraordinary  breadth  of  learning,  but  he  had  also 
an  independent  mind  and  the  courage  to  stand  for  his 

1  Lectures    delivered   before    the    McCormick    Theological    Seminary,    Chi- 
cago, 111.,  December  s  and  7,   191 1. 


2  MISCELLANIES 

convictions.  He  taught  New  Testament  introduction 
and  interpretation,  church  history  and  the  history  of 
philosophy,  dogmatic  and  practical  theology,  logic, 
psychology  and  metaphysics,  philosophical  and  Chris- 
tian ethics,  aesthetics,  pedagogics,  and  politics,  and  his 
published  works  on  these  subjects  fill  a  score  of  vol- 
umes. Side  by  side  with  this  university  teaching 
proceeded  his  work  as  a  preacher.  For  forty  years 
there  was  scarcely  a  Sunday  on  which  he  did  not  ad- 
dress crowded  congregations.  He  drew  to  hear  him 
the  wealth,  the  culture,  the  influence  of  Berlin.  But 
the  poor  came  as  well  as  the  rich,  the  unlettered  as 
well  as  the  learned,  for  he  spoke  of  great  things,  of 
the  love  of  God  and  of  country,  of  communion  with 
Christ  and  of  family  duty,  of  life  and  of  death,  until 
he  was  esteemed  a  sort  of  prophet  and  oracle,  to  whom 
a  whole  city  looked  for  instruction,  inspiration,  and 
comfort,  and  in  whom  all  men  felt  that  they  had  a 
friend. 

All  this  was  possible  because  of  a  natural  warmth 
of  temperament  which  sought  affection,  and  gave  af- 
fection in  broad  and  unstinted  ways.  The  life  of 
Schleiermacher  was  a  life  of  sensibility,  of  friendship, 
of  love,  quite  as  much  as  it  was  a  life  of  intellect. 
But  undiscriminating  emotion  would  never  have  given 
him  the  influence  which  he  exerted  upon  his  contem- 
poraries. What  impressed  and  attracted  men  was  the 
fact  that  this  tremulous  feeling  was  at  the  service  of 
a  clear  judgment,  and  was  used  to  enforce  the  claims 
of  truth.  He  was  no  repeater  of  outworn  phrases, 
no  follower  of  current  traditions.  He  was  a  man  of 
insight;  he  preached  what  he  had  seen  and  felt;  the 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  3 

only  authority  he  recognized  was  the  authority  of 
experience.  What  he  spoke  and  what  he  wrote  had 
weight,  because  it  seemed  the  living  utterance  of  a 
true  man.  To  many  a  soul  inclined  to  formalism  or  to 
rationalism  it  was  a  veritable  voice  of  God,  rousing 
from  irreligious  slumber  and  prompting  to  a  spiritual 
life. 

Many  great  preachers  have  left  no  permanent  mark 
upon  the  thinking  of  the  world.  Schleiermacher's 
influence  has  been  far  greater  since  his  death  than  dur- 
ing his  life.  He  was  the  pioneer  of  all  our  recent 
theology.  In  spite  of  most  serious  and  pernicious 
errors,  he  constituted  a  bridge  from  the  German  ration- 
alism of  the  eighteenth  century  to  the  recent  Ger- 
man evangelical  faith.  Before  he  appeared,  it  almost 
seemed  that  the  fruits  of  the  Protestant  Reformation 
had  been  lost ;  partly  because  Luther  did  not  supple- 
ment his  scriptural  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith 
with  an  ecjually  scriptural  doctrine  of  the  church  and 
its  ordinances,  and  partly  because  he  did  not  establish 
specifically  Christian  schools  for  the  training  of  the 
ministry,  Germany  had  nearly  swung  to  the  extremes 
of  formalism  and  unbelief.  Scarcely  a  remnant  of  faith 
in  inspiration,  or  in  any  manifestation  of  the  super- 
natural, was  to  be  found  in  the  universities.  Semler 
interpreted  the  miracle  of  turning  the  water  into  wine 
as  purely  subjective :  the  beauty  of  Jesus'  discourse 
made  the  time  pass  so  quickly  at  the  marriage  feast 
that  the  guests  exclaimed :  "  What  good  wine  we 
have  had  to-day !  "  Ko  one  believed  in  either  the 
immaculate  conception  or  the  bodily  resurrection  of 
our  Lord.     Preachers  were  fast  becoming  hypocrites, 


4  MISCELLANIES 

and  preaching  was  becoming  an  inculcation  of  motive- 
less and  perfunctory  ethics.  Schleiermacher  wrought 
a  revolution  by  turning  attention  anew  to  the  majestic 
and  sinless  Christ,  and  to  the  effects  of  Christ's  life  and 
death  in  Christian  experience.  Man's  need  of  Christ 
and  Christ's  supply  of  man's  need — these  fundamental 
truths  of  religion  were  proclaimed  with  such  convic- 
tion and  feeling  as  to  make  a  new  epoch  in  theology. 
The  new  faith  had  many  shortcomings,  and  to  them  I 
shall  call  attention.  Still  it  is  true  that  for  its  salutary 
and  lasting  influence  upon  modern  thought  we  must 
put  the  "  ChristUchc  Glauhe,"  or  System  of  Doctrine, 
of  Friedrich  Schleiermacher  next  to  the  "  Institutes  " 
of  John  Calvin. 

To  a  certain  extent  his  teaching  was  a  reform  of 
theology.  It  could  not  have  been  this  if  it  had  been 
an  attack  from  without ;  it  was  this,  because  it  was  a 
growth  from  within.  That  growth  sloughed  off  many 
harmful  excrescences  and  restored  Christian  doctrine 
to  something  nearer  its  original  simplicity.  And  yet 
through  his  whole  life  Schleiermacher  rejected  ele- 
ments of  truth  so  important  as  the  personal  preexist- 
ence  and  objective  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ,  while 
God  and  immortality  were  conceived  in  so  pantheistic 
a  fashion  that  many  calm  critics  have  regarded  him  as 
an  enemy  to  the  Christian  faith.  To  the  student  of 
philosophy  and  theology  his  positions  are  curiously 
interesting;  to  understand  him  is  to  understand  the 
theology  of  our  time.  But  he  cannot  be  understood 
without  a  knowledge  of  his  life  and  early  surround- 
ings; to  these  I  therefore  address  myself,  with  the  hope 
that  they  may  help  iis  to  interpret  his  doctrine. 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  5 

Schleiermacher  was  born  on  the  twenty-first  day  of 
November,  1768,  and  he  was  sixty-five  years  of  age 
when  he  died.  He  was  the  son  of  a  poor  army  chap- 
lain of  the  Reformed  Church,  at  that  time  stationed 
at  Breslau,  in  Silesia.  As  the  regiment  to  which  he 
was  attached  moved  hither  and  thither,  the  father  was 
for  long  periods  absent  from  home,  and  the  boy's  early 
training  was  given  him  for  the  most  part  by  his  in- 
telligent and  pious  mother.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Stubenrauch,  chaplain  in  ordinary  to  the 
king.  She  recognized  in  her  son  an  unusual  precocity, 
but  she  was  by  no  means  blind  to  his  faults,  for  when 
his  facility  in  memorizing  the  Latin  grammar  at 
his  first  school  made  him  conceited,  she  strove  to  sub- 
due his  pride  by  appealing  to  his  religious  nature  and 
awakening  his  gratitude  to  God. 

From  his  twelfth  to  his  fourteenth  year  he  attended 
a  boarding-school  at  Pless,  where  an  enthusiastic 
teacher  inspired  him  with  love  for  the  classics  and  a 
desire  for  literary  fame.  Yet  a  strange  skepticism 
took  possession  of  him  here.  For  a  time  he  doubted 
the  genuineness  of  all  the  ancient  authors.  He  con- 
cealed these  doubts,  but  he  was  troubled  by  them,  and 
resolved  some  day  to  make  personal  investigation  as 
to  their  truth.  When  his  father  spoke  to  him  of  the 
depravity  to  be  found  in  most  large  schools,  and  pro- 
posed to  send  him  to  the  educational  establishment 
of  the  United  Brethren  at  Niesky,  in  Upper  Lusatia, 
young  Schleiermacher  welcomed  the  change,  for  the 
innocent  piety  of  the  young  people  at  the  Moravian 
school  greatly  attracted  him.  Here  w^as  a  refuge  from 
doubt  and  from  temptation.    With  his  sister  he  passed 


0  MISCELLANIES 

two  years  in  preparatory  studies  at  Niesky,  and  two 
more  years  in  the  college  at  Barby. 

These  four  years,  from  fifteen  to  nineteen,  spent 
among  the  Moravians  in  the  still  air  of  delightful 
studies  and  in  association  with  Christians  more  simple, 
missionary,  and  devout  than  any  others  then  living, 
were  the  best  part  of  his  education.  Here  were  a 
people  to  whom  Christ  was  a  reality,  a  living  presence 
in  the  heart.  Communion  with  him  was  the  greatest 
joy,  the  only  real  joy,  of  their  earthly  existence.  Scrip- 
ture was  as  much  Christ's  word  as  if  he  had  spoken 
it  audibly  into  their  ears.  His  cross  was  the  center  of 
all  history,  the  source  of  all  hope,  the  theme  of  all 
praise.  They  lived  and  labored  that  they  might  spread 
the  knowledge  of  his  salvation  to  the  uttermost  ends 
of  the  earth,  and  many  a  martyr  from  among  their 
number  had  left  his  bones  in  Greenland,  in  Africa, 
and  in  the  West  Indian  Isles.  It  is  a  great  gift  of 
God  to  be  permitted  to  know  one  believer  who  lives  in 
constant  companionship  with  Christ;  for,  once  seen, 
such  a  one  can  never  be  forgotten.  Among  the  Mora- 
vians Schleiermacher  saw  many  such.  Their  childlike 
piety  made  indelible  impression  upon  him — indeed, 
may  we  not  say,  he  made  their  piety  his  own? 

In  letters  written  about  this  time  to  liis  sister,  he 
tells  her  that  the  pressure  of  external  duties  may  be 
borne  with  a  Christian  spirit: 

The  heart  may,  nevertheless,  feel  the  peace  and  the  love  of 
Jesus,  as  I  can  assert  from  my  own  experience,  thanks  to  his 
mercy.  .  .  Neither  my  love  for  winter  nor  my  hatred  to  summer 
disturbs  the  cheerful  state  of  my  mind ;  but  when  I   find  that 

1  do  not  love  the  Saviour  enough,  that  I  do  not  sufficiently  honor 
him;  when  the  daily  intercourse  with  him  does  not  go  on  uninter- 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  7 

rupted,  then  I  am  disturbed.  But  as  often  as  we  draw  near 
to  him,  feeling  ourselves  sinners  who  can  only  be  saved  through 
his  mercy,  as  often  as  we  pray  to  him  for  a  look  of  grace,  we 
never  go  away  from  him  empty.  He  never  abandons  us,  however 
much  we  may  deserve  it;  yet  the  more  undisturbed  our  minds, 
the  better,  the  more  consistent,  the  more  tranquil,  the  nearer 
to  heaven— happiest  would  it  be,  were  we  there  altogether.  But 
his  will  be  done;  it  is  the  best. 

The  Moravians  had  a  meeting  for  strangers  of  other " 
churches  than  their  own,  and  to  whom  they  ministered. 
These  strangers  were  called  the  Diaspora — those  who 
are  scattered  abroad.  The  parents  of  Schleiermacher 
probably  had  this  kind  of  connection  with  the  Brother- 
hood. With  reference  to  one  of  these  meetings  the 
boy  writes : 

Yesterday  I  was  for  the  second  time,  through  the  grace  of  the 
Saviour,  permitted  to  be  a  looker-on.  "  1  will  receive  you  unto 
myself,"  was  the  text  of  yesterday ;  and  as  regards  me  also  he 
will  graciously  fulfil  this  promise.  He  has  risen  from  the  dead 
to  help  all  miserable  sinners  on  earth,  and  therefore  I  also  have 
a  part  in  him.  He  alone  is  my  stay — the  God  who  died  for  me 
upon  the  cross.  .  .  Ah !  did  but  the  love  of  Christ  fill  our  hearts 
day  and  night,  were  we  but  always  acceptable  in  his  sight,  were 
we  but  in  constant  uninterrupted  communion  with  him,  did 
we  but  cling  to  him  so  that  not  even  for  one  moment  we  could 
be  drawn  away  from  him  !  .  .  I  have  been  an  apprentice  in  the 
community  somewhat  more  than  two  years.  This  is  not  a  very 
long  time,  yet  in  this  short  period  how  much  have  I  experienced^ 
much  evil  as  regards  myself,  and  much  mercy  as  regards  the 
Saviour!  "I  have  merited  wrath,"  say  I  on  my  side;  "I  have 
atoned  for  thee,"  cries  the  Lamb  from  the  cross.  .  .  When  I  look 
back  upon  my  life  of  seventeen  years,  I  recognize  so  many 
remarkable  proofs  of  the  kind  and  merciful  guidance  of  the 
Lord,  and  of  his  watchfulness  over  all  circumstances  relating  even 
to  the  meanest  of  his  rational  creatures,  that  I  feel  compelled  to 
prostrate  myself  in  the  dust,  and  to  say :  "  With  what  mercy 
and  patience  and  love  thou  hast  led  me,  O  Lord !  " 


8  MISCELLANIES 

I  have  quoted  these  youthful  experiences  only  to 
show  that  Schleiermacher  was  no  wilful  opposer  of 
established  beliefs,  but  that  he  was  rather  the  pos- 
sessor of  a  naive  and  simple  faith  like  that  of  the 
Moravian  Brethren  around  him.  The  memory  of  those 
early  days  was  sacred  to  him.  Sixteen  years  after- 
ward, when  he  had  made  for  himself  a  name  in  the 
world  of  letters,  he  made  a  visit  to  his  old  school,  and 
of  it  he  then  wrote : 

There  is  no  other  place  that  could  call  forth  such  lively  remin- 
iscences of  the  whole  forward  movement  of  my  mind,  from  its 
first  awakening  to  a  higher  life  up  to  the  point  which  I  have  at 
present  attained.  Here  it  was  that  for  the  first  time  I  awoke 
to  the  consciousness  of  the  relations  of  man  to  the  higher  world, 
.  .  Here  it  was  that  the  mystic  tendency  developed  itself,  which 
has  been  of  so  much  importance  to  me,  and  has  supported  and 
carried  me  through  all  the  forms  of  skepticism.  Then  it  was 
only  germinating;  now  it  has  attained  its  full  development;  and 
I  may  say  that,  after  all  I  have  passed  through,  I  have  become 
a  Herrnhuter  (Moravian)  again,  only  of  a  higher  order. 

His  sister  Charlotte  became  a  regular  member  of  the 
Moravian  Society,  and  remained  so  till  she  died.  His 
bosom  friend,  Von  Albertine,  with  whom  at  this  time 
he  devoured  the  Old  Testament  and  the  Greek  poets, 
remained  with  the  brethren,  and  became  a  bishop  and 
a  hymn-writer  among  them.  But  as  Satan  appeared 
even  among  the  sons  of  God,  so  Herrnhut  could  not 
shut  out  the  questionings  of  an  acute  and  growing 
intellect.     His  autobiography  is  instructive  here : 

I  had  already  sustained  manifold  internal  religious  conflicts. 
The  doctrine  of  eternal  punishment  and  reward  had  already 
exercised  a  disturbing  power  over  my  childish  imagination,  and 
in  my  eleventh  year  I  spent  several  sleepless  nights  in  consequence 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  9 

of  not  being  able  to  come  to  a  satisfactory  conclusion  concern- 
ing the  mutual  relation  between  the  sufferings  of  Christ  and  the 
pu°nishment  for  which  these  sufferings  were  the  substitute.  Now 
commenced  another  struggle  generated  by  the  views  held  among 
the  United  Brethren  relative  to  the  doctrines  of  the  natural 
corruption  of  man  and  of  the  supernatural  means  of  grace,  and 
the  manner  in  which  these  doctrines  were  interwoven  with  every 
discourse  and  every  lesson.  .  .  My  convictions  soon  differed  so 
widely  from  the  system  adopted  by  the  Brethren  that  I  thought  I 
could  no  longer  conscientiously  remain  a  member  of  the  congrega- 
tion, and  the  utterances  of  my  ideas  also  became  so  distinct  that 
the  attention  of  the  superiors  was  attracted.  .  .  In  vain  was 
every  means  of  conversion  employed;  I  could  no  longer  be 
drawn  out  of  the  path  I  had  entered;  but  long  after,  I  still  felt 
the  exhaustion  consequent  upon  the  immense  exertions  I  was 
obliged  to  make. 

The  letter  in  which  he  announced  to  his  father  this 
change  in  his  views  is  a  very  pathetic  one:  I  mal^e 
brief  extracts  from  it: 

Alas,  dearest  father,  if  you  believe  that,  without  faith,  no  one 
can  attain  to  salvation  in  the  next  world  nor  to  tranquillity  in 
this— and  such,  I  know,  is  your  belief-oh !  then  pray  God  to 
grant  it  to  me,  for  to  me  it  is  now  lost.  I  cannot  believe  that  he 
who  called  himself  the  Son  of  man  was  the  true  eternal  God; 
I  cannot  believe  that  his  death  was  a  vicarious  atonement,  because 
he  himself  never  expressly  said  so ;  and  I  cannot  believe  it  to  have 
been  necessary,  because  God,  who  evidently  did  not  create  men 
for  perfection,  but  for  the  pursuit  of  it,  cannot  possibly  mtend 
to  punish  them  eternally  because  they  have  not  attamed  it.  .^  . 
And  now  are  told  these  tidings  which  must  be  so  terribly 
startling  to  you.  Try  to  enter  into  my  feelings,  and  you  will 
perhaps  be  able  in  some  measure  to  understand  what  it  must 
have  cost  me  to  write  these  lines,  devoted  to  you,  as  I  am, 
my  good  father,  with  such  tender  filial  affection,  acknowledging 
as  I  do  your  great  love  for  me,  and  being  conscious  that  I 
owe  everything  to  you.  .  .  Comfort  yourself,  dear  father,  for 
I  know  you  were  long  in  the  same  state  that  I  am  now.  Doubts 
assailed  you  at  one  time  as  they  now  do  me,  and  yet  you  have 
become  what  you  are.     Think,  hope,  believe,  that  the  same  may 


lO  MISCELLANIES 

be  the  case  with  me.  .  .  If  your  circumstances  will  at  all  admit 
of  it,  pray,  allow  me  to  go  to  Halle,  if  only  for  two  years. 

He  wished  to  go  to  Halle,  because  in  the  college  at 
Barby  he  was  not  permitted  to  read,  and  no  one  would 
even  refute  his  objections.  The  father's  reply  shows 
how  crushing  was  the  blow,  and  how  incapable  he  was 
of  comprehending  his  son's  mental  struggles : 

Oh,  thou  foolish  son !  who  has  bewitched  thee  that  thou  no 
longer  obeyest  the  truth?  thou,  before  whose  eyes  Christ  was  set 
forth,  and  who  now  crucifiest  him !  .  .  O  my  son,  my  son,  how 
deeply  dost  thou  humble  me !  What  sighs  dost  thou  call  forth 
from  my  soul !  .  .  Go  forth  then  into  the  world,  whose  honors 
thou  art  seeking.  Try  if  its  husks  can  satisfy  thy  soul.  .  .  Alas, 
into  what  a  state  of  delusion  has  the  wickedness  of  thy  heart 
plunged  thee!  .  .  And  now,  O  son,  whom  I  press  with  tears  to 
my  sorrowful  heart !  with  heart-rending  grief  I  discard  thee, 
for  discard  thee  I  must,  as  thou  no  longer  worshipest  the  God  of 
thy  fathers,  as  thou  no  longer  kneelest  at  the  same  altar  with 
him.  .  .  But,  if  it  be  possible,  then  listen  to  the  entreaties  of  thy 
father  who  prays :  Turn  back,  my  son,  turn  back !  O  Lord  Jesus, 
shepherd  of  the  human  race,  bring  back  to  thyself  thy  straying 
lamb !  Do  it  for  the  glory  of  thy  name !  Amen !  .  .  I  shall  not 
yet  write  to  Halle,  because  I  hope  that  the  blessing  of  the  Lord 
may  attend  my  words  and  my  prayers. 

At  Halle,  at  this  time,  his  mother's  brother  was  for- 
tunately living.  He  was  professor  in  the  university. 
Professor  Stubenrauch,  if  he  did  not  sympathize  with 
his  nephew,  had  at  least  a  mind  broad  enough  to  bear 
with  him.  He  interceded  with  the  father,  and  an 
outward  reconciliation  was  brought  about.  No  other 
course  was  possible  but  the  young  man's  removing  to 
Halle,  living  with  his  uncle,  and  entering  the  uni- 
versity. The  Moravian  Brethren  themselves  compelled 
this  course,  for  they  regarded  such  a  disseminator  of 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  II 

heresy  as  an  incongruous  element  in  their  community, 
and  they  refused  to  harbor  him  longer.  So  he  entered 
upon  a  larger  life,  free  to  read  what  he  would  and 
free  to  express  his  thoughts.  After  a  time  the  elder 
Schleiermacher  came  to  recognize  the  sincerity  of 
the  son,  and  gave  him  again  the  confidence  of  former 
years.  But  it  was  a  trying  experience  for  the  boy,  and 
he  afterward  wrote  of  his  father : 

An  unhappy  misunderstanding  estranged  his  heart  from  me 
for  several  years.  He  believed  me  to  be  on  the  road  to  perdition, 
and  thought  me  conceited  and  puffed  up,  while  I  was  simply  fol- 
lowing out  my  deepest  convictions,  without  carrying  my  thoughts 
one  step  further,  and  without  wishing  or  hoping  for  anything.  .  . 
No  wonder  that  he  misunderstood  me  when  I  withdrew  from  a 
society  to  which  he  was  greatly  attached,  and  in  which  he  had 
placed  me  in  accordance  with  my  own  wishes,  and  with  great 
hopes  of  saving  me  from  the  united  power  of  the  world  and  of 
those  skeptical  tendencies  in  me  which  did  not  escape  his  observa- 
tion. He  attributed  to  the  inspirations  of  a  vainglorious  heart, 
and  to  an  impious  desire  to  throw  myself  into  the  abyss  of 
skepticism,  that  which  was  only  the  effect  of  my  sense  of 
truth,  without  any  desire  for  or  repugnance  toward  whatever 
might  be  the  result.  Far  from  loving  the  vanities  of  the  world, 
I  feared  them  and.  had  I  known  of  any  other  retreat  like  the 
Herrnhut  establishments  to  which  I  could  fly  from  them,  I 
would  have  fled  thither  in  preference.  .  .  I  suffered  much  in 
consequence.  I  thought  what  a  beautiful  relation  there  might 
have  been  between  us,  and  that  it  was  not !  And  yet  without  any 
fault  on  my  side.  I  was  touched  by  his  tender,  anxious  love, 
which,  in  spite  of  the  sorrow  I  caused  him,  was  never  withdrawn 
from  me.  But  you  know  how  I  am;  I  never  took  any  decided 
steps  to  draw  him  nearer  to  me,  but  went  on  my  quiet  way, 
fearing  that  explanations  on  my  side  might  only  produce  a  con- 
trary effect  on  him.  Gradually,  however,  his  understanding  and 
his  judgment  took  counsel  of  his  heart ;  but  hardly  did  I  hold  in 
my  hands  incontestable  proofs  that  he  was  again  entirely  mine, 
when  he  was  taken  from  me.  Had  but  the  happiness  been  vouch- 
safed to  me  to  sweeten  his  last  moments,  to  close  his  eyes  with 
filial  hand  ! 


12  MISCELLANIES 

And  many  years  after,  looking  back  with  affection  to 
these  days,  he  rejoiced  that  before  death  took  his  father 
from  him  the  breach  between  them  had  been  healed. 
He  wrote  then  to  his  sister : 

There  was  a  period,  the  remembrance  of  which  now  often 
forces  itself  upon  me,  during  which  I  mistook  the  heart  of  our 
excellent  father;  when  I  thought  he  was  too  hard  upon  me.  and 
judged  me  falsely  because  I  was  not  of  the  same  opinion  as  he. 
A  certain  coldness  of  feeling,  which  arose  in  consequence,  now 
seems  to  me  the  darkest  spot  in  my  existence.  But  in  secret 
I  have  acknowledged  my  injustice,  and  he  forgave  me  without 
my  asking  it.  Afterward  I  learned  to  appreciate  his  heart  more 
truly,  and  I  at  least  rewarded  him  with  some  years  of  ardent 
and  perfect  love  and  unrestrained  confidence. 

Here  is  filial  piety  as  well  as  personal  independence. 
The  correspondence  between  father  and  son  is  credit- 
able to  both  parties.  The  flower-pot  was  too  small  for 
the  oak  to  grow  in,  and  the  father  came  to  recognize 
this,  and  even  to  rejoice  in  the  growing  powers  and 
the  larger  views  of  his  son. 

This  assertion  of  the  right  of  private  judgment  and 
refusal  to  submit  to  mere  authority  was  characteristic 
of  his  after  life ;  the  victory  was  won  once  for  all. 
The  time  for  passive  reception  of  others'  opinions  was 
past;  henceforth  he  thought  for  himself.  It  was  not 
to  be  expected  that  he  should  attend  assiduously  upon 
the  lectures  of  professors.  His  studies  were  frag- 
mentary; he  read  omnivorously ;  Spinoza,  Kant,  Fichte, 
Schelling,  Novalis — these  were  his  real  teachers.  He 
mingled  little  with  other  students ;  like  a  true  Mora- 
vian, he  kept  up  his  private  devotions  and  sought 
help  from  God ;  he  was  eager  only  to  know  the  truth. 
A  spirit  like  his  was  rare  at  that  time.     The  old  piet- 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  I3 

ism  of  Halle  had  come  to  an  end.  It  was  an  age 
of  bald  rationalism.  Semler,  the  father  of  German 
neology,  and  Wolf,  the  higher  critic  of  Homer,  were 
the  men  of  greatest  note  at  the  university.  All  the 
influences  of  the  place  were  averse  both  to  spirituality 
and  to  supernaturalism.  It  is  no  v/onder  that  these 
influences  conspired  with  his  natural  tendencies  to 
make  him  the  theologian  that  he  was. 

Schleiermacher  was  as  nearly  original  as  a  man  can 
well  be,  yet  his  originality  consisted  rather  in  a  novel 
combination  of  elements  previously  existing  than  in 
any  great  new  discovery  of  his  own.  We  can  find  in 
Spinoza,  in  Kant,  in  Novalis,  in  Zinzendorf,  the  sepa- 
rate threads  which  he  wove  together  into  his  parti- 
colored theology.  Chief  of  all,  we  must  count  Spinoza, 
with  his  materialistic  pantheism.  To  philosophic  minds 
there  has  always  been  a  fascination  in  his  doctrine  of 
the  one  and  simple  substance  which  is  known  to  us 
through  the  two  attributes  of  thought  and  of  exten- 
sion, mind  being  God  in  the  form  of  thought,  and 
matter  being  God  in  the  form  of  extension.  Here, 
apparently,  is  the  unity  which  all  science  seeks,  and  the 
system  sounds  religious,  for  it  gives  to  this  unity  the 
name  of  God.  Spinoza  has  been  called  for  this  rea- 
son "  the  God-intoxicated  man."  Unfortunately  it  was 
the  universe,  rather  than  God,  with  which  Spinoza 
was  intoxicated,  for  instead  of  translating  the  universe 
into  God,  he  translated  God  into  the  universe.  His 
conceptions  of  God  were  derived  from  matter  rather 
than  from  mind.  He  knows  no  such  thing  as  freedom. 
All  the  events  of  the  world  follow  from  the  nature  of 
the  one  Substance  as  the  nature  of  the  diameter  follows 


14  MISCELLANIES 

from  the  nature  of  the  circle.  There  is  no  purpose  in 
the  universe,  no  responsibihty,  no  sin.  Though  his 
great  work  is  entitled  "  Ethics,"  we  may,  as  Doctor 
Hodge  says,  for  real  ethics  as  profitably  consult  the 
"  Elements  "  of  Euclid. 

Yet  the  doctrine  of  one  Substance  is  in  another  form 
both  scriptural  and  true.  There  is  a  Christian  pan- 
theism. There  is  one  supreme  Being,  of  whom  and 
through  whom  and  unto  whom  are  all  things.  But  this 
Being  is  subject  as  well  as  substance ;  in  fact,  is  pri- 
marily subject  and  only  secondarily  substance;  and  the 
maintenance  of  this  was  the  great  merit  of  Hegel. 
Neither  Spinoza  nor  Hegel,  however,  reached  an  Abso- 
lute that  is  strictly  personal  and  that  permits  the  co- 
existence of  finite  personalities.  When  Schleiermacher 
adopted  the  system  of  Spinoza,  he  adopted  the  worst 
form  of  Monism ;  his  Absolute,  instead  of  containing, 
really  abolishes,  all  relations ;  his  One  really  excludes 
the  many.  He  could  believe  in  no  personal  distinctions 
in  the  Deity,  in  no  inherent  divine  attributes,  in  no 
divine  life  comparable  to  the  life  of  man;  and  similarly, 
man's  personality  is  minimized,  his  free  will  is  an  illu- 
sion, he  is  the  play  of  cosmic  forces  for  a  time,  but  is 
soon  to  be  swallowed  up  in  the  All. 

From  Kant  Schleiermacher  took  his  doctrine  of 
relativity — the  futility  and  self-contradiction  of  all  the- 
oretical reasoning  with  regard  to  freedom,  immor- 
tality, and  God.  As  Martineau  has  said :  "  Kant  wrote 
'  No  Thoroughfare  '  over  the  reason  in  its  highest  exer- 
cise." Our  a  priori  judgments  are  simply  regulative. 
Ritschl's  "  value- judgments"  are  simply  an  application 
to  theology  of  the  principle  of  Kant,  as  Schleiermacher 


THE   THEOLOGY   OF   SCHLEIERMACHER  I5 

adopted  it.  We  can  know  things,  Kant  would  say, 
not  as  they  are  in  themselves,  but  only  as  they  are  for 
us.  Behind  all  this  philosophy  is  the  vicious  assump- 
tion that  God  is  concealed  by  his  own  manifestation, 
that  there  can  be  appearances  without  any  things  that 
appear.  But  that  our  cognitive  faculties  should  corre- 
spond to  things  as  they  are,  is  much  more  probable 
than  that  they  should  correspond  to  things  as  they 
are  not.  Human  reason  does  impose  its  laws  and  forms 
upon  the  universe;  but,  in  so  doing,  it  interprets  the 
real  meaning  of  the  universe.  In  other  words,  the 
laws  of  our  knowing  are  not  merely  arbitrary  and 
regulative,  but  correspond  to  the  nature  of  things. 
Our  reason  is  not  a  green  glass  which  gives  a  false 
color  to  the  world  about  us,  but  rather  a  binocular 
microscope,  which  enables  us  to  see  the  world  as  it 
really  is. 

The  result  of  Schleiermacher's  acceptance  of  this 
portion  of  the  Kantian  philosophy  was  his  decrying 
of  rational  theology,  and  his  denial  that  we  have  ob- 
jective knowledge  of  God.  Theology  became  a  mere 
account  of  devout  Christian  feelings,  the  grounding 
of  which  in  external  facts,  either  historical  or  ontologic, 
was  matter  of  comparative  indifference.  Religion  was 
a  merely  subjective  thing.  Here  he  did  not  follow 
Kant's  later  but  rather  his  earlier  thinking,  for  Kant, 
in  his  "  Critique  of  the  Practical  Reason,"  came  to  ac- 
cept as  postulates  those  same  truths  with  regard  to 
freedom,  immortality,  and  God  which,  in  his  "  Critique 
of  Pure  Reason,"  he  had  declared  could  never  be 
theoretically  attained.  Schleiermacher  in  this  respect 
followed  Fichte  rather  than  Kant.     The  noblest  part 


l6  MISCELLANIES 

of  Kant's  doctrine — that  of  the  "  Ethics,"  with  its  cate- 
gorical imperative  and  the  intimation  it  gives  of  a 
higher  personahty  than  our  own — did  not  appeal  to 
him,  and  we  find  little  reference  in  his  writings  to 
conscience  in  man  or  to  holiness  in  God.  Kant's 
critical  idealism  he  could  accept,  but  not  Kant's  recog- 
nition of  the  voice  of  Another  in  our  moral  nature.  If 
he  had  followed  Kant  fully,  he  might  have  been  saved 
from  the  evil  part  of  Spinoza's  influence,  and  might 
have  believed  fcir  more  strongly  in  a  personal  and  a 
righteous  God. 

Spinoza's  one  substance  and  Kant's  critical  idealism 
left  little  room  for  a  religion  of  intellect  or  of  will. 
Yet  Schleiermacher's  own  experience  convinced  him 
that  religion  was  a  blessed  reality.  When  he  came  to 
explain  it,  he  could  assign  it  only  to  the  realm  of 
feeling.  He  gave  up  the  attempt  to  ground  Christian 
experience  in  objective  facts,  whether  of  history  or 
of  revelation.  But  there  was  an '  internal  element 
which  criticism  could  not  destroy.  It  was  the 
element  of  emotion.  He  defined  religion,  there- 
fore, as  the  feeling  of  absolute  dependence.  He  fol- 
lowed Novalis  and  the  romantic  school.  Novalis  had 
said  that  all  absolute  emotion  is  religion.  Certainly 
there  is  a  grain  of  truth  here.  The  feeling  of  the 
infinite  in  the  finite — without  this  no  religion  is  pos- 
sible. But  then,  religion  is  not  the  mere  feeling  of 
dependence,  for  such  feeling  is  not  religious  unless 
exercised  toward  a  personal  and  holy  God,  and  un- 
less accompanied  by  the  moral  effort  to  be  like  him. 
Schleiermacher  confines  religion  to  the  feeling  of  abso- 
lute dependence,  and  so  excludes  from  it  both  reflective 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  1 7 

thought  and  ethical  activity.  He  combated  a  false  in- 
tellectualism,  a  dry  orthodoxy,  an  unbelieving  ration- 
alism, a  frivolous  aestheticism,  and  in  this  he  was  right. 
But  he  left  the  emotions  without  their  proper  rational 
basis  of  conviction,  and  without  their  proper  practical 
effects  in  a  holy  life. 

For  religion  is  a  life — a  life  in  God,  or,  in  other 
words,  a  life  lived  in  recognition  of  God,  in  communion 
with  God,  and  under  control  of  the  indwelling  Spirit 
of  God.  Since  it  is  a  life,  it  cannot  be  described  as  con- 
sisting solely  in  the  exercise  of  any  one  of  the  powers 
of  intellect,  affection,  or  will.  As  physical  life  involves 
the  unity  and  co-operation  of  all  the  organs  of  the 
body,  so  religion,  or  spiritual  life,  involves  the  united 
working  of  all  the  powers  of  the  soul.  To  feeling  we 
may,  indeed,  assign  the  logical  priority,  since  holy  af- 
fection toward  God,  imparted  in  regeneration,  is  the 
condition  of  truly  knowing  God  and  of  truly  serving 
him.  But  unless  the  feeling  of  dependence  has  a  proper 
object,  it  may  be  very  irreligious.  The  heart  needs  a 
guide;  we  must  not  apotheosize  it,  but  must  put  it 
under  rational  control ;  otherwise  we  may  become  a 
prey  to  most  ignoble  impulses.  Schleiermacher's  re- 
ligion is  not  really  Christianity,  for  it  recognizes  no 
objective  norm  or  revelation.  It  is  a  purely  subjective 
phenomenon,  a  purely  natural  product.  And  though 
he  declares  the  natural  to  be  itself  supernatural,  and 
the  religious  feeling  to  be  itself  a  revelation  of  God, 
it  is  plain  to  see  that  Christianity  to  him  is  only  one 
of  many  religions,  differing  not  in  kind,  but  only 
in  degree,  from  the  heathen  religions  that  had  pre- 
ceded it. 


l8  MISCELLANIES 

I  have  thus  attempted  to  group  together  the  philo- 
sophical and  literary  influences  which  contributed  to  the 
formation  of  Schleiermacher's  theological  opinions. 
They  all  began  to  work  upon  him  during  his  three 
years  at  Halle,  though  he  felt  some  of  them  more 
strongly  after  other  years  had  passed.  Let  us  not  for- 
get, however,  that  the  philosophical  and  literary  ecjuip- 
ment  was  sought  and  accepted  only  as  a  means  of  de- 
fining to  himself  and  of  publishing  to  others  what  he 
regarded  as  the  essential  truth  of  Christian  experience. 
That  truth  he  regarded  himself  as  having  never  aban- 
doned.    Six  years  after  leaving  Halle  he  could  write : 

How  sweetly  do  we  all  cleave  with  the  same  pious  feeling  to 
the  loving  and  informing  Christ!  Never  since  I  left  the  Herrn- 
hut  congregation  have  I  so  rejoiced  in  my  Christian  feelings 
and  in  my  Christian  faith,  nor  have  I  beheld  its  living  power  so 
spread  around  me. 

His  Moravian  training  left  its  permanent  impressions 
in  the  strongly  Christological  character  of  his  system. 
In  his  preaching  he  found  an  inexhaustible  mine  in  the 
relations  of  the  Christian  to  Christ  and  the  ways  in 
which  the  Christian  life  is  developed  by  the  truth  of 
Christ.     In  his  later  life  he  sums  up  all  by  saying: 

Luther  and  Melancthon,  Calvin  and  Zwingli,  and  their  various 
fellow-laborers,  were  not  creators  of  a  new  state  of  things,  but 
merely  instruments  in  the  hands  of  divine  Providence,  and  it  is 
and  ever  will  be  their  highest  glory  that  they  were  found  worthy 
to  be  such.  They  produced  nothing  new,  but  merely  cleansed 
the  old  doctrine  from  the  rubbish  that  had  been  heaped  upon  it, 
so  that  it  could  appear  again  in  its  pristine  purity  and  com- 
mend itself  thus  to  men.  The  work  of  the  Reformation  was  not, 
therefore,   to    found   a   Lutheran   Church — against   which   indeed 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  K) 

no  one  protested  more  warmly  than  Luther  himself — nor  was  it 
to  found  a  Reformed  Church,  but  to  bring  forth  in  renewed  glory 
the  Evangelical  Church,  which  is  guided  and  governed  by  its 
founder,  Jesus  Christ,  the  eternal  Son  of  God.  He  is  the  quicken- 
ing center  of  the  church ;  from  him  comes  all,  to  him  all  returns ; 
he  is  the  Beginning  and  the  End;  in  him  we  believe,  and  through 
him  alone  we  are  blessed. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  speak  of  his  subsequent 
life  except  as  it  illustrates  and  explains  his  theology. 
He  left  the  university  without  any  fixed  system,  yet 
with  the  hope  of  constructing  one.  In  1790,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-two.  he  was  licensed  as  a  preacher. 
Through  Sack,  chaplain  to  the  king  of  Prussia,  he 
was  made  tutor  in  the  family  of  Count  Dohna.  of 
Schlobitten,  in  East  Prussia.  Here  the  young  man, 
who  had  been  hitherto  unacquainted  with  the  world, 
came  first  into  association  with  cultivated  women,  and 
from  them  he  learned  much  that  books  could  not 
impart.  In  1794  he  was  ordained,  and  became  assistant 
to  his  uncle  at  Landsberg  on  the  Wartha.  As  he 
entered  upon  the  work  of  an  active  ministry  he  wrote 
to  his  father : 

From  my  heart  I  do  wish  that  God's  blessing  may  be  upon  my 
sermons,  so  that  they  may  be  sources  of  true  edification  and  may- 
speak  to  the  heart,  as  I  trust  they  will  ever  come  from  the  heart. 
To  you  I  need  not  say  how  deeply  I  am  moved  at  the  thought  of 
being  numbered  among  those  to  whom  so  important  an  office  is 
entrusted,  nor  need  I  assure  you  that  I  do  not  now,  and  never 
shall,  look  upon  it  merely  as  a  means  of  livelihood.  .  .  I  am 
persuaded  that  I  really  possess  the  religion  which  it  is  my 
duty  to  promulgate,  even  if  my  philosophy  is  quite  different  from 
that  of  most  of  my  hearers.  Nor  is  there  in  me  any  unworthy 
prudence  or  mental  reservation.  I  attribute  to  words  precisely 
that  meaning  which  is  assigned  to  them  by  every  man  engaged 
in  religious  contemplation,  nothing  more  and  nothing  less. 


20  MISCELLANIES 

Herrnhut  had  greatly  influenced  him,  yet  even  upon 
the  Moravian  piety  Schleiermacher  put  his  own 
pecuHar  stamp.     He  could  truly  say : 

My  way  of  thinking  has,  indeed,  no  other  foundation  than 
my  own  pecuHar  character,  my  inborn  mysticism,  my  education  as 
it  has  been  determined  from  within. 

That  peculiar  experience  he  felt  it  his  mission  to 
express.  It  determined  his  whole  conception  of  his 
ministerial  office.  Preaching,  to  his  mind,  was  not  an 
attempt  to  convince  and  convert;  it  was  simply  self- 
revelation  on  the  part  of  the  preacher.  That  concep- 
tion dominates  the  homiletics  of  Germany  to  this  day. 
That  German  preaching  is  not  evangelistic,  but  only 
encouraging  and  consolatory,  is  due  to  the  example 
and  influence  of  Schleiermacher. 

After  two  years  of  faithful  pastoral  labor  at  Lands- 
berg,  he  removed  to  Berlin,  where  he  became  chap- 
lain at  the  Charite  Hospital.  He  spent  the  next  six 
years,  from  1 796-1802,  in  literary  circles,  eagerly 
drinking  in  the  influences  of  art,  society,  and  politics. 
Romanticism  was  the  current  tendency,  and  roman- 
ticism is  belief  in  subjective  emotions  as  the  highest 
manifestation  of  God.  It  is  the  deification  of  sen- 
sibility, without  regard  to  its  nature.  Frederick 
Schlegel,  Tieck,  Novalis,  Herder,  and  Goethe  were 
its  chief  representatives.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  such  a 
method  of  thought  would  fit  in  with  Schleiermacher's 
experience.  It  was  an  unmoralized  religion,  which 
deprived  the  affections  of  their  regulative  principle, 
and  which  consecrated  much  that  was  illicit  and  even 
satanic.     The  young  preacher  did  not  wholly  escape  its 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  21 

evil  effects.  For  four  or  five  years  he  permitted  him- 
self to  indulge  in  an  attachment  to  the  childless  and 
unhappy  wife  of  a  Berlin  clergyman,  which  never 
transgressed  outward  propriety,  but  which  came  dan- 
gerously near  to  the  coveting  of  his  neighbor's  wife. 
Let  us  remember  Schleiermacher's  depth  of  sym- 
pathy, his  delight  in  giving  and  receiving  confidences, 
his  longing  for  affection,  his  dependence  upon  others, 
and  we  shall  somewhat  better  understand  him.  He 
loved  his  male  friends.  Steffens  and  Willich,  with  a 
warmth  that  pressed  them  to  his  heart  and  opened  to 
them  his  whole  nature.  And  with  good  women  he 
fell  in  love  at  first  sight.  To  that  brilliant  and  beau- 
tiful leader  of  society.  Henrietta  Herz,  he  could  at 
one  time  devote  all  his  afternoons,  and  with  her  he 
could  spend  whole  days  in  the  absence  of  her  husband. 
To  Eleonore  Grunow,  the  clergyman's  wife  whom  I 
have  mentioned,  he  could  write  such  letters  as  these: 

Who  was  ever  so  happy  as  to  understand  you  before  I  came?  .  . 
Do  you  know  with  what  I  am  tempted  to  compare  you?  With  a 
magnet  that  has  wrapped  itself  in  iron-filings,  because  it  has 
never  found  a  solid  bit  of  iron  to  attract.  When  such  a  bit 
arrives,  it  does  not  recognize  you  on  account  of  those  surround- 
ings, but  at  the  most,  has  a  vague  feeling  of  your  presence,  and 
everything  depends  upon  a  bold  grasp  that  shall  shake  off  the 
filings.  .  .  Among  all  the  minds  that  have  stimulated  mine  and 
contributed  to  its  development,  there  is  not  one  whose  influence 
on  my  heart,  and  on  the  purer  presentment  of  my  inner  being, 
can  be  compared  to  yours;  and  this  grateful  conviction  is  the 
sweetest  thought  I  can  indulge  in.  But  I  can  tell  you  nothing 
about  this  that  I  have  not  already  told  you,  except  that  each  tmie 
I  feel  it  with  increased  vividness  and  delight.  Indeed,  what  other 
consolation  can  I  have  at  this  distance  from  you  than  this  retro- 
spective and  prospective  view  of  the  sweet  relation  in  which  you 
have  stood  and  will  again  stand  to  my  life?  .  .  when  the  thought 


22  MISCELLANIES 

occurred  to  me,  "  Of  that  woman  a  great  deal  might  be  made," 
I  had  not  yet  discovered  your  innermost  being  .  .  .  but  only  your 
understanding,  and  you  know  that  the  understanding  alone  makes 
very  little  impression  upon  me.  I  could  not,  indeed,  have  found 
you  in  any  other  way  than  I  did  find  you — through  a  revelation 
of  love.  .  .  Did  you  not  also  discover  my  inner  being  after  and 
through  this  revelation? 

This  attachment  to  Eleonore  Grnnow  went  so  far 
that  he  proposed  to  her  the  securing  of  a  divorce  from 
her  husband  in  order  that  she  might  marry  him.  He 
held  that  marriage  without  heart  was  immoral  and 
ought  to  be  dissolved.  Prussian  law  permitted  divorce 
by  mutual  consent.  The  husband  gave  his  consent,  but 
the  wife  hesitated.  Duty  and  inclination  kept  up  a 
long  struggle  within  her.  When  at  last,  in  a  paroxysm 
of  compunction,  she  determined  to  cleave  to  her  hus- 
band and  to  give  Schleiermacher  up,  the  blow  to  the 
preacher  was  crushing.  He  prayed  for  death.  In 
his  distress  he  accepted  an  appointment  as  court 
preacher  at  Stolpe,  in  Pomerania,  and  so  went  into 
banishment.  It  was  a  fortunate  banishment.  The 
perilous  relation  was  ended.  Reason  resumed  its  sway. 
Much  to  his  benefit,  he  broke  loose  from  his  [esthetic 
and  literary  connections.  He  began  the  translation  of 
Plato,  which  occupied  him  for  many  years.  Roman- 
ticism had  had  its  day.  Providence  gave  him  a  better 
wife  than  Eleonore  Grunow.  He  married  the  widow 
of  his  young  friend  Willich,  a  woman  twenty  years 
younger  than  himself,  and  with  her  he  lived  most 
happily.  Fourteen  years  after  the  period  of  danger, 
when  the  two  accidentally  met  at  a  large  party, 
Schleiermacher  went  up  to  the  lady  to  whom  he  had 
been  so  attached  and,   holdinp-  out  his  hand  to  her. 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMaCHER  23 

said:  "Dear  Eleonore,  God  has  dealt  kindly  with  us 
both." 

It  is  not  difficult  to  perceive  the  secret  of  Schleier- 
macher's  power  as  a  preacher.  This  fresh  suscep- 
tibility, this  sense  of  the  Infinite,  this  independence 
of  tradition,  were  seldom  so  combined.  It  was  a  new 
sensation  to  conceited  rationalists  and  dead  formalists 
when  they  heard  a  young  man  speak  with  deep  emotion 
of  the  divine  life  which  moved  in  nature  and  in  the 
soul.  This  life,  he  would  say,  is  the  life  of  Christ; 
without  it,  man  is  utterly  incapable  of  good;  only  as 
his  Spirit  dwells  in  us  can  we  reach  the  true  end  of 
our  being.  Religion  is  not  only  consistent  with  the 
highest  culture,  but  there  can  be  no  real  culture  with- 
out it.  Christ  is  the  source  of  all  art  and  of  all  civiliza- 
tion. There  is  no  peace  for  the  State  and  no  dignity 
for  the  soul  without  him.  Do  you  doubt  the  miraculous 
stories  of  the  Scripture,  and  the  inspiration  of  Scrip- 
ture itself?  But  these  are  not  essential  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith — the  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you.  You 
do  not  need  to  go  back  to  the  past  or  to  believe  in  a 
book;  Christ  is  present  here  and  now  in  the  Christian 
soul;  he  transforms  character  to-day;  the  light  of 
kindness  and  compassion,  of  humility  and  hope  and 
joy,  that  shines  forth  from  the  Christian's  face,  pro- 
ceeds from  him  who  is  the  true  and  only  Light  of 
the  World.  Is  it  a  wonder  that  such  preaching  stirred 
all  Germany  as  it  had  not  been  stirred  since  the  days  of 
Luther,  and  that  it  resulted  in  a  genuine  religious 
revival  ? 

The  preacher  was  not  remarkable  in  his  personal 
appearance.      He    is    described    as    small    of    stature, 


24  MISCELLANIES 

slightly  humpbacked,  but  with  features  of  classical 
regularity;  an  expression  noble,  frank,  and  sym- 
pathetic; eyes  keen,  piercing,  ahd  full  of  fire;  move- 
ments animated  and  quick.  An  intense  thoughtfulness 
was  joined  to  a  calm  composure  of  manner;  when  most 
deeply  moved,  he  never  lost  command  of  himself,  and 
so  never  lost  command  of  others.  Though  weak  in 
body,  he  had  an  indomitable  will ;  he  had  trained  him- 
self to  alertness  and  attention;  nothing  that  passed 
seemed  to  escape  him ;  his  only  recreation  was  a  change 
of  work;  he  rose  early,  and  he  turned  night  into  day. 
He  gave  much  time  to  society,  accepting  every  invita- 
tion, and  burning  the  midnight  oil  long  after  returning 
from  an  evening  company.  Mingling  with  his  kind 
seemed  essential  to  his  mental  health. 

Preparation  of  his  sermons  was  usually  made  on 
Saturday  evening,  when  for  a  few  minutes  he  would 
leave  his  guests,  go  to  the  stove,  to  the  window,  or 
to  the  corner  of  his  reception-room,  and  jot  down  a 
few  heads  of  discourse  upon  a  slip  of  paper  not  half 
so  large  as  the  palm  of  his  hand.  But  when  the  time 
for  their  delivery  came,  he  had  an  unfailing  flow  both 
of  thought  and  of  language.  In  the  pulpit  the  dry 
bones  of  his  sermon  were  clothed  with  flesh  and  blood ; 
he  cared  nothing  for  rhetorical  finish,  everything  for  his 
thought ;  he  was  en  rapport  with  his  auditors  from 
the  start,  made  them  feel  that  he  was  guiding  them  to 
a  definite  conclusion,  and  that  they  were  in  the  hands 
of  a  man  whose  sole  aim  it  was  to  utter  to  them  God's 
truth  and  to  do  them  good.  He  never  wrote  his  ser- 
mons in  full  before  delivery,  though  he  revised  his 
friends'  reports  of  them  after  they  had  been  preached. 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  25 

He  was  greater  as  a  speaker  than  as  a  writer,  for  in  his 
speaking  there  was  a  deeply  penetrative  feehng,  which 
his  printed  sermons  fail  to  reproduce.  Xo  preacher 
ever  had  more  intellectual  audiences,  for  students,  pro- 
fessors, government  officials,  counts  and  princes,  artists 
and  literary  men,  thronged  to  hear  him  preach.  It  was 
the  eloquence  of  elevated  thought,  the  natural  utterance 
of  one  who  spoke  only  because  he  believed  and  felt. 

Feeling  furnishes  the  key  also  to  his  earliest  printed 
works.  Only  three  years  after  his  arrival  in  Berlin 
the  young  preacher  published  his  "  Discourses  on  Re- 
ligion ;  Addressed  to  the  Cultivated  among  its  Con- 
temners." No  one  can  read  the  book  without  being 
convinced  that  its  author  felt  driven  to  its  composition 
by  an  irresistible  divine  call.  It  has  a  directness  and 
authority  that  remind  us  of  the  trumpet  from  Sinai. 
The  reading  of  it  constituted  a  turning-point  in  die 
spiritual  life  of  Neander.  Harms  called  the  hour  of 
his  first  acquaintance  with  it  the  hour  in  which  his 
higher  life  was  born.  And  yet  these  "  Discourses  " 
were  little  more  than  a  passionate  defense  of  natural 
religion,  and  an  appeal  to  elemental  instincts  in  the 
heart  of  man.  They  could  hardly  have  accomplished 
so  much,  had  not  Germany  been  sunk  in  a  slough  of 
unbelief.  What  the  condition  of  things  was  among  the 
clergy  can  be  best  learned  from  an  experience  of 
Schleiermacher  himself: 

"  Last  week,"  he  says,  "  the  synodal  assembly  of  this  diocese 
took  place,  and  the  dean  was  so  kind  as  to  invite  nie  to  be  present. 
This  occupied  almost  the  whole  day.  How  sad  it  made  me ! 
Ah !  dear  friend,  to  find  myself  among  thirty-five  such  clergy- 
men !  I  did  not  feel  ashamed  of  belonging  to  the  profession, 
but  with  my  whole  heart  I  longed  for  and  I  pictured  to  myself 


26  MISCELLANIES 

those  future  times,  which  I  trust  are  not  far  distant,  when  such 
an  assembly  will  be  impossible.  I  shall  not  live  to  see  it,  but 
could  I  only  in  some  way  contribute  to  bring  it  about !  Of  the 
openly  disreputable  among  them  I  will  not  speak,  and  I  would 
even  submit  patiently  to  there  being  a  few  such  among  the  great 
number,  particularly  as  long  as  the  livings  are  worth  only  one 
thousand  dollars.  But  the  universal  degradation,  the  entire  un- 
susceptibility  to  all  higher  influences,  the  base  and  sensuous  views 
— depend  upon  it,  I  was  the  only  one  among  them  who  mourned 
in  heart,  the  only  one;  for  had  there  been  another,  I  must  have 
found  him,  I  knocked  and  searched  so  earnestly." 

The  "  Discourses  "  were  the  cry  of  a  John  the  Baptist 
in  the  wilderness.  They  heralded  the  coming  of  Christ 
into  many  hearts.  They  marked  the  transition  from 
cold  speculation  and  religious  indifference  to  a  positive 
faith.  At  one  stroke  Schleiermacher  became  a  writer 
of  national  reputation.  His  prophetic  voice  roused 
Germany  to  see  once  more  that  deep  under  every  indi- 
vidual flows  the  stream  of  an  infinite  Life,  and  that 
man  needs  most  of  all  a  reception  of  the  Eternal. 

1  must  pass  over  with  a  bare  mention  his  appoint- 
ment, in  1804,  to  a  professorship  at  Halle,  where,  at 
the  age  of  thirty-six,  he  first  attempted  the  scientific 
teaching  of  philosophy  and  theology.  He  drew  the 
attention  of  his  students,  but  he  taught  with  peculiar 
difficulty,  for  his  views  were  not  yet  formed,  and  he 
was  by  some  called  an  atheist,  by  others  a  pantheist, 
and  by  still  others  a  pietist.  After  two  years  of  this 
work,  he  became  minister  of  Trinity  Church  in  Ber- 
lin; and  when,  in  1810,  the  University  of  Berlin  was 
founded,  he  took  part  in  its  organization  and  was  its 
first  professor  of  theology.  For  twenty-four  years  he 
lectured  two  hours  a  day  on  almost  every  department 
of  philosophy  and  theology,  while  at  the  same  time  he 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  27 

did  full  work  as  preacher  on  the  Sabbath.  Side  by  side 
with  him  in  the  university  were  Humboldt  and  Hegel, 
Marheinecke  and  De  VVette.  But  in  theological  circles 
Neander  was  the  only  teacher  that  could  compare 
with  him,  and  Neander  was  in  a  sense  his  pupil.  Stu- 
dents came  from  all  parts  of  Germany  and  Switzerland 
to  hear  him.  His  fame  speedily  filled  all  northern 
Europe,  and  on  his  visit  to  Copenhagen,  the  university 
of  that  place  honored  him  with  a  torchlight  procession. 

n.  What  I  have  said  thus  far  has  served  to  prepare 
the  way  for  an  estimate  of  Schleiermacher's  greatest 
work,  "  Dcr  Christlichc  Glaiihc,"  or  "  The  Christian 
Faith,"  first  published  in  182 1,  when  he  had  reached  the 
age  of  fifty-three.  It  may  be  regarded  as  the  ripe 
fruit  of  his  manhood,  and  as  marking  an  epoch  in 
modern  theology.  It  will  not  be  possible  to  treat  the 
work  otherwise  than  synoptically  and  in  relation  to  its 
great  leading  principles,  but  I  hope  to  elucidate  these 
principles  by  references  to  his  correspondence  and  to 
his  life.  Its  title  is  significant.  He  does  not  call  the 
book  a  system  of  Christian  doctrine,  as  if  doctrine 
were  something  objective  and  external.  He  calls  it 
rather  "  The  Christian  Faith,"  in  order  to  intimate 
that  all  theology  is  subjective,  the  expression  of  the 
common  consciousness  of  believers.  This  conscious- 
ness, moreover,  is  not  primarily  intellectual  or  ethical — 
it  is  a  state  of  feeling — the  feeling  of  absolute  depend- 
ence. Religion  is  never  insight,  and  it  is  never  action, 
though  it  accompanies  these,  like  sacred  music. 

As  this  conception  of  religion  is  fundamental  to 
Schleiermacher's  thinking,   it  will  help  our  study  to 


28  MISCELLANIES 

trace  it  to  its  origin.  We  remember  that  among  the 
Moravians  he  had  before  him  indubitable  evidence  of 
hearts  that  had  been  changed  by  divine  grace  and 
that  were  full  of  love  for  God  and  for  perishing  men. 
He  himself  had  felt  that  love  springing  up  within  him. 
But  when  it  came  to  expressing  this  love  in  the  doc- 
trinal formulae  of  the  Brotherhood,  his  intellect  re- 
belled. When  it  came  to  experiencing  the  visions  and 
the  raptures  of  which  the  Brethren  so  often  spake,  he 
could  only  mourn  that  he  was  incapable  of  them: 

"  I  was  thus,"  he  says,  "  in  that  state  of  torture,  with  producing 
which  our  reformers  have  so  frequently  been  taunted :  my  belief 
in  the  innate  moral  faculty  of  man  had  been  taken  from  me,  and 
as  yet  nothing  had  been  substituted  in  its  stead.  For  in  vain  I 
aspired  after  those  supernatural  experiences,  of  the  necessity  of 
which  every  glance  at  myself  with  reference  to  the  doctrine  of 
future  retribution  convinced  me,  of  the  reality  of  which  externally 
to  myself  every  lesson  and  every  hymn,  yes,  every  glance  at  the 
Brethren,  so  attractive  while  under  their  influence,  persuaded 
me.  Yet  me  they  seemed  ever  to  flee,  though  at  times  I  thought 
I  had  seized  at  least  a  shadow  of  them ;  for  I  soon  perceived 
that  it  was  no  more  than  the  work  of  my  own  mind,  the  result 
of  the  fruitless  straining  of  my  imagination." 

The  reality  and  value  of  religious  feeling,  yet  the 
non-existence  of  any  external  cause  or  object  of  it — 
this  was  the  conclusion  to  which  Schleiermacher  had 
come  when  he  left  the  Brotherhood.  It  remained  only 
to  find  an  internal  cause  and  object.  The  philosophy 
of  Spinoza  enabled  him  to  find  God  within  and  to 
regard  every  pure  emotion  as  a  divine  revelation. 
The  universe  is  God  in  spatial  and  temporal  form, 
and  each  soul  becomes  truly  religious  when  it  emerges 
from  its  isolation  and  comes  to  see  itself  as  a  part  of 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  29 

the  great  whole.  The  philosophy  of  Kant  enabled 
him  to  add  the  element  of  relativity :  since  we  cannot 
penetrate  beneath  our  own  experiences  or  understand 
things  as  they  are  in  themselves,  we  are  shut  up  to  the 
description  of  our  religious  feelings  and  to  the  infer- 
ences we  may  draw  from  these  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
great  Being  w^ho  has  caused  them.  But  this  great 
Being,  to  borrow  the  language  of  Hegel,  is  not  a  Spirit 
beyond  the  stars;  he  is  the  Spirit  in  all  spirits.  Tran- 
scendence is  denied;  God  is  conterminous  with  the  uni- 
verse; the  only  God  is  the  immanent  God. 

The  breaking  down  of  the  barrier  between  the 
natural  and  the  supernatural  is  the  first  effect  of  this 
philosophy,  and  this  is  one  of  Schleiermacher's  most 
important  conclusions.  Everything  is  natural ;  nothing 
occurs  contrary  to  natural  law.^  But  then,  since  nature 
is  but  another  name  for  God,  everything  is  supernatural 
also,  in  the  sense  that  it  is  no  product  of  dead  material 
things,  but  a  working  of  the  one  divine  Agent  in 
W'hom  all  things  live,  move,  and  have  their  being.  He 
called  himself  "  a  thoroughgoing  supernaturalist," 
therefore,  even  though  he  regarded  miracles,  inspira- 
tion, and  even  the  incarnation,  as  susceptible  of  natural 
explanation.  We  are  to  find  God  not  outside  of  nature, 
but  in  nature.  God's  working  in  answers  to  prayer,  in 
regeneration,  and  in  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  does  not  prevent  these  from  being  subject  to 
natural  law,  and  from  being  wrought  in  purely  natural 
ways.  To  make  this  plain,  let  me  quote  Schleier- 
macher  himself.     The   fullest  statement  of  his  view 

1  Huxley:  Everything  is  matter,  but  matter  is  spirit.  Lotze:  Everything  is 
mechanism,  but  mechanism  is  life.  Biedermann:  Everything  is  nature,  but 
nature  is  miracle. 


30  MISCELLANIES 

occurs  in  a  letter  written  with  reference  to  the  phe- 
nomena of  mesmerism  or  animal  magnetism : 

My  opinion  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  these  mental  phenomena 
and  to  their  truth  is  this :  Any  distinction  between  the  natural 
and  the  supernatural,  between  the  comprehensible  and  the  in- 
comprehensible, I  do  not,  upon  the  whole,  recognize.  Everything 
is  in  one  sense  natural,  and  in  another  supernatural.  Even  that 
the  Son  of  God  was  made  man,  must,  in  a  higher  sense,  be 
natural.  In  what  category  the  magnetic  phenomena  are  to  be 
placed  is  still  a  subject  of  inquiry.  .  .  It  may  be  said  in  general 
that,  by  changes  introduced  in  the  physical  conditions,  certain 
limits  to  which  the  mind  is  usually  subject  are  for  a  time  re- 
moved. To  the  removal  of  such  limitations,  indeed,  we  owe 
all  that  is  sublime  and  divine  in  the  ancient  prophecies;  for 
otherwise  the  men  would  not  have  been  men,  during  the  period 
of  prophesying  or  of  inspiration,  but  would  have  been  some 
other  kind  of  beings.  The  greatest  interest  attaching  to  the 
higher  phenomena  of  mesmerism  is  exactly  this,  that,  when  well 
understood,  they  will  tend  to  throw  new  light  on  the  original 
and  essential  range  of  the  mental  capacities  of  man;  and,  in 
connection  with  this,  no  doubt,  also  on  many  points  relating 
to  the  Dark  Ages  and  sacred  history  of  all  nations.  .  .  The 
prophetic  quality  in  man,  and  the  fact  that  the  best  that  is  in  him 
originates  in  vague  presentiments,  has  become  clearer  to  me  than 
ever  through  my  experience  with  regard  to  Plato. 

It  cannot  be  denied,  however,  that  Schleiermacher 
identified  the  supernatural  with  nature,  rather  than 
nature  with  the  supernatural.  He  was  inclined  to  min- 
imize the  miraculous  element  in  Scripture  even  if  he 
did  not  disbelieve  it  altogether.  To  him  miracle  was 
simply  the  religious  name  for  occurrence;  pious  people 
find  miracle  everywhere;  for  the  majority,  however, 
the  natural  never  seems  miraculous  until  it  becomes 
extraordinary.  So  with  inspiration.  God  reveals 
himself  to  all  men.  The  Scripture  writers  were  only 
larger  and  loftier  souls,  in  whom  the  insight  and  pre- 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  3 1 

science  that  belong  in  some  measure  to  all  were  more 
fully  developed.  They  were  not  thereby  delivered  from 
all  error.     He  says  : 

There  is  no  more  absolute  distinction  between  the  true  and 
the  false,  than  there  is  between  the  natural  and  the  supernatural. 
There  is  no  error,  even  of  the  most  pernicious  kind,  which 
has  not  an  admixture  of  truth,  or  which  is  not  connected  with 
some  truth,  and  there  is  no  truth  that  does  not  include  the  pos- 
sibility of  error.     This  holds  good  even  of  the  old  prophets. 

Thus  by  claiming  that  all  men  are  inspired  he  shut 
out  all  special  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  just  as  by 
claiming  that  all  events  are  miracles  he  shut  out  special 
miracle  from  the  Scripture  history.  The  Bible  does 
not  forbid  any  other  book  from  being  a  Bible,  any 
more  than  the  wonders  of  Bible  story  prevent  more 
common  events  from  being  veritable  workings  of  God. 
The  Bible  is  not  so  much  a  revelation  as  it  is  the 
record  of  a  revelation.  In  all  its  parts  it  is  mixed  with 
human  error ;  and  the  Old  Testament,  as  the  early 
effort  of  man  to  express  the  truth  inwardly  revealed 
to  him,  is  entitled  to  little  more  credence  than  the 
sacred  books  of  the  heathen.  Since  all  revelation  is 
necessarily  internal,  the  authority  of  Scripture  is 
altogether  subordinate  to  that  of  the  Christian  con- 
sciousness. 

Extreme  as  was  this  doctrine  of  the  divine  im- 
manence, it  was  a  great  improvement  upon  the  deism 
of  Schleiermacher's  time.  That  nature  is  throbbing 
with  divine  life,  and  that  God  has  not  ceased  to  dwell 
in  man,  w'ere  lessons  which  his  age  greatly  needed 
to  learn.  But,  in  breaking  away  from  deism,  did  he 
not  fall  into  the  opposite  extreme  of  pantheism?     I 


^2  MISCELLANIES 

propose  to  maintain  the  seemingly  self-contradictory 
thesis  that,  while  his  formulae  were  pantheistic,  he 
all  the  while  injected  into  them  a  Christian  meaning; 
in  other  words,  that  he  was  striving  to  express  Chris- 
tian truth  in  terms  of  an  antichristian  philosophy  far 
too  narrow  and  ragged  for  the  sublime  form  it  was 
intended  to  clothe. 

Pantheism  consists  of  one  affirmation  and  two  de- 
nials. It  affirms  that  there  is  but  one  substance,  prin- 
ciple, and  ground  of  being.  Christian  monism  makes 
this  affirmation,  equally  with  pantheism.  But  panthe- 
ism denies  two  things  which  Christian  monism  stoutly 
affirms.  It  denies  God's  transcendence,  and  it  denies 
God's  personality.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Schleiermacher  denied  God's  transcendence  and,  so  far, 
he  was  a  pantheist.  Did  he  also  deny  God's  per- 
sonality? We  must  grant  that  he  did  so  in  terms; 
but  when  we  read  his  accompanying  reasons  and  ex- 
planations, we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  it 
was  not  so  much  God's  personality  which  he  was  com- 
bating as  it  was  the  application  to  God  of  certain  false 
definitions  of  personality,  which  so  limited  the  divine 
Being  as  to  make  him  finite  and  imperfect  like  man 
himself. 

In  a  letter  to  Jacobi.  Schleiermacher  points  out  the 
essential  difference  between  his  own  view  and  that  of 
his  friend.     He  says : 

The  foundation  of  your  philosophy  was  tlie  idea  of  a  personal 
God,  which  I  denied.  .  .  Because  you  can  see  no  third  alternative, 
and  because  you  will  not  deify  nature,  you  deify  human  con- 
sciousness. But,  dear  friend,  in  my  eyes  the  one  is  as  much 
a  deification  as  the  other,  and  this  view,  that  both  are  deifications, 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  33 

is  in  my  opinion  the  third  alternative.  .  .  Are  you  better  able  to 
conceive  of  God  as  a  person  than  as  luitura  natiiiansf  If  you 
form  to  yourself  a  living  conception  of  a  person,  must  not  this 
person  of  necessity  be  linite?  Can  an  infinite  reason  and  an 
infinite  will  really  be  anything  more  than  empty  words,  when 
reason  and  will,  by  differing  from  each  other,  also  necessarily 
limit  each  other?  And  if  you  attempt  to  annul  the  distinction 
between  reason  and  will,  is  not  the  conception  of  personality 
destroyed  by  the  very  attempt?  .  .  I  maintain  that  one  expression 
is  as  good  and  as  imperfect  as  another;  that  we  cannot  form 
any  real  conception  of  the  highest  Being;  but  that  philosophy 
properly  consists  in  the  perception  that  this  inexpressible  reality 
of  the  highest  Being  underlies  all  our  thinking  and  all  our 
feeling.  .  .  Further  than  this,  I  believe,  we  cannot  get. 

The  phrase  natiira  naturans,  quoted  liere  with  so 
much  approbation,  is  itself  a  virtual  acknowledgment 
that  Schleiermacher's  point  of  view  is  that  of  Spinoza, 
and  it  is  interesting  to  compare  with  this  his  fervid 
eulogium  of  that  philosopher  in  his  youthful  "  Dis- 
courses." He  is  criticizing  the  idealism  of  his  own 
day : 

It  annihilates  the  universe,  while  it  professes  to  create  it; 
reduces  it  to  a  mere  allegory,  to  a  worthless  shadow-image  of 
the  one-sided  limitation  of  its  own  empty  consciousness.  Offer 
with  me  reverently  a  lock  of  hair  to  the  Manes  of  the  holy 
and  exiled  Spinoza  !  Him  the  lofty  Spirit  of  the  World  pene- 
trated; the  Infinite  was  to  him  the  beginning  and  the  end;  the 
universe  was  his  only  and  eternal  love;  in  holy  innocence  and 
deep  humility  he  mirrored  himself  in  the  eternal  world,  and  saw 
how  he  also  was  its  most  lovely  mirror;  full  of  religion  was  he, 
and  full  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  and  therefore  too,  he  stands  alone 
and  unapproached,  master  in  his  art,  but  exalted  above  the 
company  of  the  profane,  without  disciples  and  without  rights  as 
a  citizen. 

So    Schleiermacher    declares    that    it    matters    not 
whether  we  regard  God  as  personal  or  not,  so  long  as 
c 


34  MISCELLANIES 

we  have  him  in  our  feehng.  God  is  the  unity  of  the 
manifold  which  appears  to  us  as  world.  God  without 
world  is  pure  mythology.  To  make  God  personal  is 
to  make  him  finite.  Spinoza's  abstract  conception  of 
infinity  here  fetters  him.  He  fails  to  see  that  not  in- 
finity, but  perfection,  is  the  ruling  conception,  and  that 
just  so  much  infinity  belongs  to  God  as  is  consistent 
with  perfection,  and  no  more.  Infinity,  therefore,  is 
not  identical  with  the  All;  it  does  not  include  evil  as 
well  as  good ;  it  is  only  the  infinity  of  righteousness 
and  love ;  it  is  consistent  with,  nay,  it  expresses  itself 
in,  self-limitation.  We  who  are  made  in  God's  image 
may  and  must  represent  him  as  like  ourselves  in  that 
which  is  highest,  that  is,  in  that  self-consciousness  and 
self-determination  which  we  call  personality. 

Schleiermacher  practically  grants  all  this  when  he 
says  that  his  pantheism  is  entirely  compatible  with 
theism.  In  his  early  work,  called  "  Monologues,"  he 
celebrates  the  freedom  of  the  human  spirit,  and  declares 
freedom  to  be  just  as  important  as  dependence.  And 
the  same  man  who  in  his  private  correspondence  denies 
God's  personality  asserts  in  his  sermons  the  belief  that 
prayer  is  an  essential  part  of  religion.  Listen  to  the 
followinsr : 


To  be  a  religious  man  and  to  pray  are  really  one  and  the 
same  thing.  To  join  the  thought  of  God  with  every  thought  of 
any  importance  that  occurs  to  us ;  in  all  our  admiration  of 
external  nature,  to  regard  it  as  the  work  of  his  wisdom ;  to 
take  counsel  with  God  about  all  our  plans,  that  we  may  be  able 
to  carry  them  out  in  his  name;  and  even  in  our  most  mirthful 
hours  to  remember  his  all-seeing  eye;  this  is  the  prayer  without 
ceasing  to  which  we  are  called,  and  which  is  really  the  essence 
of  true  religion. 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  35 

And  here  is  a  prayer  with  which  he  prefaced  a  sermon 
on  the  text :  "  We  know  that  ah  things  work  together 
for  good  to  them  that  love  God  "  : 

Heavenly  Father,  sanctify  in  thy  trutli  all  of  us  who  are  here 
assembled  for  common  supplication,  that  our  hearts  may  be  puri- 
fied and  strengthened  by  the  feeling  of  thy  nearness  and  by  the 
contemplation  of  thy  love.  However  elsewhere  we  may  be 
involved  in  the  turmoil  of  the  world,  yet  here  is  the  dwelling 
of  holy  stillness  and  rest.  Let  it  be  for  us  all  a  place  of  free- 
dom, where  the  heart  oppressed  is  quickened  and  restored.  How- 
ever much  we  may  have  lost  of  external  possessions,  however 
many  hopes  of  friendship  may  have  been  destroyed,  here  we  enjoy 
a  possession  of  which  no  power  can  rob  us,  here  we  turn  our  eyes 
to  a  hope  that  fadeth  not  away.  Oh,  that  we  all  may  feel  rich 
in  the  consciousness  that  we  belong  to  the  number  of  thy  children, 
feel  happy  and  secure  in  the  confidence  that  thou  meanest  well 
and  doest  well!  li  this  feeling  animates  our  hearts,  then  shall 
we  rightly  look  about  with  the  eyes  of  our  spirit;  if  this  rest 
of  the  children  of  God  has  taken  up  its  abode  in  us,  then  shall 
we  view  with  steadfast  glance  the  course  of  thy  leadings.  O  holy 
God,  that  thy  ways  may  become  ours,  that  we  may  learn  to 
understand  and  to  use  in  a  manner  worthy  of  thee  everything 
which  thou  hast  prepared  for  us,  this  is  the  aim  of  our  wisdom. 
We  all  feel  that  we  are  yet  far  from  this;  we  all  fear  more  or 
less  that  it  may  be  dark  and  comfortless  where  the  light  of 
earthly  security  and  hope  goes  out ;  we  all  strive  more  or  less 
against  the  wholesome  medicine  which  offers  nothing  pleasant  to 
the  sick,  yet  which  thou  hast  mixed  for  us.  Oh,  forgive  thy 
children  for  the  weakness  from  whose  oppressive  feeling  we 
would  be  free !  and  when  we  draw  hither  from  the  world,  in 
order  to  sink  ourselves  into  the  sea  of  thy  love  and  thy  wisdom, 
do  thou  move  upon  us  by  thy  healing  Spirit,  to  purify  us  more 
and  more  from  all  that  displeases  thee,  and  let  us  go  hence 
mightily  encouraged,  endowed  with  the  richest  blessings,  trans- 
formed into  the  image  of  thy  Son,  and  through  him  united  more 
intimately  with  thyself ! 

Proofs  that  Schleiermacher's  whole  life  was  one  of 
communion  with  God  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely, 


36  MISCELLANIES 

and  yet  in  terms  he  denied  God's  personality.  I  am 
persuaded  that  his  quarrel  was  with  the  word  rather 
than  with  the  thing,  that  with  his  heart  he  recognized 
what  with  his  intellect  he  could  not  comprehend.  With 
him,  as  with  the  Plato  whom  he  so  admired,  the  sense 
of  personality  was  weak.  The  freedom  he  believed 
in  was  power  to  act  according  to  previously  dominant 
motive,  rather  than  power  to  change  motive.  In  other 
words,  he  was  a  determinist.  He  regarded  man  as 
an  effect,  not  as  a  cause.  The  moral  element  is  sub- 
ordinate to  the  emotional.  His  theology  is  not  a 
theology  of  conscience,  but  a  theology  of  the  sen- 
sibilities. And  so  the  God  who  is  imaged  in  man  is 
not  so  much  a  God  of  righteousness  as  he  is  a  God 
of  power;  a  God  who  can  be  identified  with  the  forces 
of  nature,  not  a  God  who  is  above  nature  and  who  uses 
nature  for  moral  ends. 

What  will  be  the  attributes  of  this  impersonal  God  ? 
Schleiermacher  does  not  regard  these  attributes  as 
having  any  objective  existence.  They  are  mere  names 
for  our  human  conceptions  of  God.  Causality  is  the 
one  all-inclusive  category.  The  attributes  are  our 
methods  of  conceiving  the  one  Cause  in  its  relations  to 
the  various  phases  of  our  religious  feeling.  We  speak 
of  attributes  only  to  explain  our  feeling  of  dependence. 
There  is  nothing  real  in  God  to  correspond  to  the 
attributes  or  to  the  differences  between  them.  This 
is  practical  agnosticism,  and  a  denial  that  we  can  have 
any  correct  idea  of  God.  The  divine  nature  is  simple 
and  ever  like  itself — a  complete  reversal  of  the  rule 
that  complexity  increases  as  we  rise  in  the  scale  of 
being.     All  we  can  with  safety  assert,  he  would  say,  is 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  3/ 

that  our  religious  feelings  must  have  a  cause;  there 
must  be  a  mighty  power  that  accounts  for  them;  of  all 
attributes,  therefore,  omnipotence  is  the  chief,  and  all 
the  rest  are  only  modifications  of  this.  Omniscience 
is  the  spirituality  of  omnipotence.  Eternity  is  the 
timelessness  of  omnipotence.  Holiness  is  omnipotence 
as  the  cause  of  our  human  conscience.  Justice  is 
omnipotence  connecting  suffering  with  sin.  Love  is 
omnipotence  imparting  itself  in  the  work  of  redemp- 
tion. Wisdom  is  omnipotence  preparing  the  world  for 
this  self-impartation  and  determining  its  order  and 
limitations. 

There  is  a  chilly  meagerness  about  these  definitions, 
which  produces  a  very  different  efifect  from  the  repre- 
sentations of  Scripture.  In  the  Bible  descriptions  of 
God  there  is  a  TiATjpcoiia,  a  variety,  a  humanity,  which 
Schleiermacher  does  not  recognize,  and  which  better 
explains  religious  experience  than  his  philosophy  can 
do.  The  absolute  simplicity  which  he  attributes  to  the 
divine  Being  has  its  bad  influence  also  when  he  comes 
to  treat  of  the  Trinity.  Here  he  takes  Sabellian  ground. 
There  are  no  hypostatic  or  ontologic  distinctions.  God 
is  not  eternally  Father,  Son.  and  Holy  Spirit.  The 
so-called  persons  in  the  Godhead  are  only  modes  of 
manifestation.  There  was  no  personal  preexistence 
of  Christ,  nor  does  it  appear  that  the  Christ  in  us  is 
anything  more  than  the  influence  of  his  remembered 
words.  And  so  with  regard  to  the  Holy  Spirit.  He 
is  not  a  person,  distinct  from  the  Son  and  from  the 
Father;  but,  as  Christ's  God-consciousness  was  simply 
the  being  of  God  in  him,  so  our  Christ-consciousness 
is  simply  the  being  of   God   in   us.      Schleiermacher 


38  MISCELLANIES 

knows  nothing  of  a  living  Christ,  nor  of  a  living  Holy 
Spirit;  he  knows  nothing  of  a  continuous  personal 
working  of  the  exalted  Redeemer,  and  nothing  of  a 
continuous  personal  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  taking 
of  the  things  of  Christ  and  showing  them  to  us. 

His  identification  of  God  with  the  universe  has 
prepared  us  to  understand  his  doctrine  of  creation  and 
of  providence.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  creation  in 
the  sense  of  absolute  origination  of  what,  without  use 
of  preexisting  material,  for  the  first  time  now  begins 
to  be.  Creation  and  preservation  are  only  expressions 
for  the  absolute  dependence  of  all  things  upon  God. 
God  is  not  a  part  of  the  world,  nor  himself  originated, 
but  all  else  is  from  him.  The  divine  activity  is  not  in 
time,  nor  had  it  a  beginning,  yet  it  is  the  cause  of  all 
that  is.  God  is  only  the  logical  priits  of  the  universe : 
the  universe  itself  is  chronologically  as  eternal  as  God, 
and  it  is  inseparable  from  God.  Schleiermacher  ob- 
jected only  to  that  pantheism  which  is  a  disguised 
materialism.  He  never  defined  his  view  as  that  of 
idealistic  pantheism,  though  he  had  much  in  common 
with  it.  As  every  man  is  the  creator  of  his  own 
thoughts  and  volitions,  sc  God  is  the  creator  of  the 
world.  As  man  without  thought  and  volition  would 
not  be  man,  so  God  without  the  universe  would  not  be 
God.  Thought  and  volition  have  their  cause  in  man, 
but  it  is  not  equally  true  that  man  has  his  cause  in 
thought  and  volition;  so  the  universe  has  its  cause  in 
God,  not  God  in  the  universe.  God  and  the  universe 
are  as  inseparable  as  man  and  his  thought,  yet  still 
it  is  true  that  the  universe  is  absolutely  dependent 
upon   God,   not   God   absolutely   dependent   upon   the 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  39 

universe.  This  absolute  dependence  of  all  things  upon 
God  for  existence  and  for  continuance  is  the  essential 
truth  at  the  basis  of  the  doctrines  of  creation  and  of 
providence. 

With  regard  to  the  existence  of  angels,  he  is  skep- 
tical. Yet  he  seems  to  favor  the  belief  in  good  angels, 
while  he  rejects  the  belief  in  bad  ones.  The  Scripture' 
representations  of  the  unfallen  spirits  that  surround 
God's  throne  impress  him.  But,  with  regard  to  a  per- 
sonal devil,  he  finds  so  many  speculative  dit^culties  that 
he  is  forced  to  give  up  the  doctrine  altogether.  He 
claims  that  Christ  and  his  apostles  taught  nothing 
original  about  angels,  but  simply  accommodated  them- 
selves to  the  beliefs  of  their  time.  He  advises  us  to 
pursue  the  same  course.  We  can  talk  about  angels, 
without  believing  in  their  actual  existence,  just  as 
we  talk  about  ghosts  and  fairies.  Even  if  there  are 
such  beings,  they  can  have  no  influence  upon  us,  and 
we  can  expect  no  manifestations  of  their  presence.  Yet 
as  personifications  of  good  and  of  evil,  as  poetical 
symbols  of  opposing  principles  in  individual  life  and 
in  the  world's  history,  the  Scripture  representations 
have  their  value,  and  we  should  not  disuse  the  hymns 
and  prayers  in  which  they  form  so  impressive  a 
rhetorical  element. 

Though  there  is  no  Satan,  there  certainly  is  sin. 
But,  with  Schleiermacher's  imperfect  apprehension  of 
personality,  will,  freedom,  responsibility,  it  was  im- 
possible that  he  should  have  a  very  correct  or  pro- 
found view  of  sin.  To  his  mind  sin  is  not  so  much 
the  free  and  wilful  violation  of  known  law,  as  it  is 
the  natural  result  of  man's  fleshly  nature  and  environ- 


40  MISCELLANIES 

ment.  It  is  a  result  of  the  soul's  connection  with  a 
physical  organism,  or,  to  use  Schleiermacher's  own 
words,  "  sin  is  a  prevention  of  the  determining  power 
of  the  spirit,  caused  by  the  independence  of  the  sen- 
suous functions."  The  child,  he  would  say,  lives  at 
first  a  life  of  sense,  in  which  the  bodily  appetites 
are  supreme.  The  senses  are  the  avenues  of  tempta- 
tion, the  physical  domineers  over  the  spiritual,  and 
the  soul  never  shakes  off  the  body.  Sin  is,  therefore,  a 
malarious  exhalation  from  the  low  grounds  of  human 
nature,  or,  to  quote  once  more  Schleiermacher's  own 
words,  "  a  positive  opposition  of  the  flesh  to  the  spirit." 
Here  too,  we  have  a  reference  of  sin  to  that  which  is 
external,  rather  than  internal,  and  an  appropriation  of 
Spinoza's  doctrine  of  "  the  inability  of  reason  to  con- 
trol the  sensuous  affections."  Pfleiderer  has  done 
good  service  in  pointing  out  that  sin  is  a  contradiction 
within  the  spirit  itself,  and  not  simply  between  the 
spirit  and  the  flesh ;  and  Simon  has  shown  that,  while 
other  species  of  beings  live  normally  and  only  man 
fails  so  to  live,  the  key  to  this  strange  and  dark  con- 
trast between  man  and  his  animal  ancestry  is  to  be 
found  alone  in  the  fact  of  the  Fall. 

Schleiermacher  recognized  no  Fall  and.  in  throwing 
the  blame  of  sin  upon  the  body  rather  than  upon  the 
spirit,  he  virtually  made  God,  the  author  of  the  body, 
to  be  also  the  author  of  sin.  Sin  is  a  condition  of 
evil  into  which  we  are  born,  rather  than  a  voluntary 
act  of  either  our  first  parents  or  their  descendants.  As 
the  consciousness  of  God  is  holiness,  so  the  lack  of  this 
consciousness  is  sin,  and  the  cause  of  this  lack  is  so 
much  outside  of  us  that  no  deep  sense  of  guilt  can 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERRIACHER  4I 

attach  to  it.  All  sin  is  caused,  as  well  as  causal.  We 
can  speak  of  a  common  act  and  common  guilt  of  the 
human  race  only  in  the  sense  that  each  man  naturally 
repeats  the  sin  of  our  first  father ;  and  that  first  father's 
sin  is  imputed  only  in  the  sense  that  all  his  descendants 
do  the  same.  Original  sin  is  not  a  corruption  of  nature, 
but  only  a  complete  incapacity  to  good — an  incapacity 
which  belongs  to  all  men  apart  from  God,  to  us  as 
much  as  to  Adam,  and  to  Adam  as  much  as  to  us. 
Death  also  is  a  natural  provision,  and  it  antedates  sin ; 
it  cannot  be  regarded  as  sin's  penalty,  except  in  the 
sense  that  the  fear  and  suffering  that  attend  it  are 
due  very  largely  to  man's  consciousness  of  transgres- 
sion. But  since  sin  and  death  are  universal,  the  need  of 
redemption  is  universal  also. 

As  sin  is  alienation  from  God,  or  lack  of  the  God- 
consciousness,  so  redemption  is  essentially  the  removal 
of  this  alienation,  or  the  restoration  of  this  God-con- 
sciousness. There  is  no  other  method  of  restoration 
except  by  the  impartation  of  the  Redeemer,  Jesus 
Christ;  and,  because  this  impartation  is  help  rendered 
by  another,  and  a  work  which  we  could  not  accomplish 
of  ourselves,  we  call  it  grace.  The  uniqueness  of  Christ 
was  that  he  was  sinless,  and  that  he  possessed  this 
consciousness  of  God  in  its  most  perfect  form.  Yet 
he  was  not  an  absolutely  supernatural  being.  His  ap- 
pearance was  due  indeed  to  a  creative  act  of  God, 
but  only  as  this  is  true  of  every  hero  or  benefactor 
of  the  race.  Immaculate  conception  and  absence  of 
a  human  father  would  add  nothing  to  his  greatness, 
for  God  can  work  within  the  range  of  natural  law  all 
that  we  commonly  attribute  to  miracle.     We  must  not 


42  MISCELLANIES 

SO  conceive  of  Christ's  birth  as  to  destroy  the  Hkeness 
between  his  nature  and  ours.  He  does  not  claim  to 
be  the  only  mediator  between  God  and  man,  but  only 
the  greatest  and  most  original.  The  essential  thing  is 
that  he  takes  the  believer  up  into  his  own  God-con- 
sciousness and  consequent  blessedness. 

Schleiermacher's  treatment,  ingenious  as  it  is,  docs 
not  hide  the  lack  of  a  historical  Saviour.  Not  only 
are  Christ's  personal  preexistence,  equality  with  the 
Father,  supernatural  conception,  and  bodily  resurrec- 
tion denied — it  is  even  doubtful  whether  there  is  recog- 
nized any  personal  existence  of  Christ  since  the  day 
of  his  death.  Christian  consciousness  is  not  com- 
munion with  an  exalted  and  yet  present  and  per- 
sonal Redeemer.  It  is  rather  an  entering  into  moral 
relation  with  the  Absolute  and,  through  the  influence 
of  Christ's  remembered  teaching  and  example,  be- 
coming possessed  of  a  God-consciousness  similar  to  his 
own.  Never  in  all  the  prayers  with  which  Schleier- 
macher  was  accustomed  to  preface  his  sermons  is  a 
petition  addressed  to  Christ.  The  mention  of  Jesus 
as  a  living  person  seemed  to  offend  him,  and  in  a  letter 
to  his  wife  he  writes : 

You  have  adopted  the  way  of  speaking  constantly  of  the 
Saviour,  and  placing  God  quite  in  the  background.  If  it  be 
the  Saviour  also  who  speaks  to  us  from  nature,  then  there  can 
hardly  be  any  direct  relation  more  between  us  and  God.  And 
yet  Christ  himself  seeks  above  all  to  impress  upon  us  that 
through  him  we  come  to  the  Father,  and  that  the  Father  abides 
in  us.  In  your  way  the  true  simplicity  of  Christianity  is  ab- 
sorbed in  some  self-made  system  that  Christ  would  not  have 
approved.  .  .  Dearest  heart,  do  try  to  hold  fast  the  belief  that 
with  Christ  and  through  Christ  we  are  to  rejoice  in  his  and 
our  Father. 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  43 

Yet  he  believed  in  a  dynamic  Christendom,  or  a 
Christendom  resting  upon  the  appearance  of  Christ. 
It  is  Christ  who  has  transformed  objective  creed  into 
subjective  rehgion.  He  would  say  that  Christ  is  in  us, 
just  as  Paul  is  in  us,  but  for  the  fact  that  Christ  was 
sinless,  and  therefore  furnished  a  perfect  example  of 
communion  with  God,  while  Paul's  God-consciousness 
was  perturbed  by  remaining  sinfulness.  Schleier- 
macher's  critics  have  not  failed  to  point  out  that  he  has 
not  shown  how  Christ's  sinless  nature  can  be  identical 
with  ours,  nor  how  the  bringing  of  a  clean  thing  out 
of  an  unclean  can  be  a  process  of  mere  nature,  nor 
how  an  immaculate  Christ  should  be  needed  to  ex- 
plain the  very  faulty  lives  of  Christians.  Relative 
perfection  in  the  church,  they  urge,  does  not  argue 
absolute  perfection  in  Christ,  nor  does  an  ideal  neces- 
sarily imply  a  history.  Ullmann  has  parted  company 
with  Schleiermacher  here,  and  has  constructed  an 
elaborate  argument  for  Christ's  essential  difference 
from  mere  humanity,  his  possession  of  a  divine  nature, 
and  his  supernatural  birth — all  based  upon  the  fact 
of  his  sinlessness.  The  future  perfection  of  the  Chris- 
tian demands  pot  an  example,  but  a  life  in  Christ;  not 
an  inciting,  but  a  creative  power.  Schleiermacher's 
religion  demands  more  in  his  Christ — his  philosophy 
demands  less.  To  be  logical,  he  should  have  given  up 
Christ's  sinlessness,  or  should  have  granted  his  super- 
natural origin.  That  he  should  have  held  to  the  sin- 
lessness in  spite  of  his  naturalistic  philosophy  can 
be  attributed  only  to  the  persistent  influence  of  his 
Moravian  training. 

When  we  come  to  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  we 


44  MISCELLANIES 

find  Schleiermacher  denying  any  satisfaction  to  God  by 
substitution.  He  puts  in  its  place  an  influence  of  Christ's 
personality  on  men,  so  that  they  feel  themselves  recon- 
ciled and  redeemed.  The  atonement  is  purely  subjective, 
yet  it  is  the  work  of  Christ,  in  the  sense  that  only 
Christ's  sense  of  oneness  with  God  has  taught  men 
that  they  can  be  one  with  God.  Christ's  consciousness 
of  his  being  in  God  and  of  knowing  God,  and  his  power 
to  impart  this  consciousness  to  others,  make  him  a 
Mediator  and  Saviour.  The  idea  of  reparation,  com- 
pensation, satisfaction,  substitution,  is  wholly  Jewish. 
He  regards  it  as  possible  only  to  a  narrow-minded 
people.  He  tells  us  that  he  hates  in  religion  this  kind 
of  historic  relations.  He  had  no  such  sense  of  the 
holiness  of  God  or  of  the  guilt  of  man  as  would 
make  necessary  any  suffering  of  punishment  or  offer- 
ing to  God  for  human  sin.  He  desired  to  replace  ex- 
ternal  and  historical  Christianity  by  a  Christianity  that 
was  subjective  and  internal. 

It  is  easy  to  see  what  views  of  regeneration,  faith, 
and  justification  must  follow.  Justification  is  never 
separated,  and  as  scarcely  distinguished,  from  inward 
renewal.  It  is  only  the  awakening  of  the  God-con- 
sciousness— the  believer's  seeing  God  in  Christ — God's 
seeing  the  believer  in  Christ  makes  no  part  of  it. 
Faith  is  not  Hegel's  apprehension  of  the  intellect,  nor 
Kant's  act  of  the  will,  but  rather  a  feeling  of  the  heart. 
And  although  Schleiermacher  attributed  this  faith  to  a 
divine  activity  as  its  cause,  this  divine  activity  is  not 
the  coming  in  of  an  influence  from  without,  as  the- 
ologians have  commonly  understood  regeneration  to  be 
— it  is  rather  the  product  of  human  nature  at  its  highest 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  45 

point  of  development.  But  human  nature  is  inwardly 
and  divinely  moved.  All  its  belief  in  God  and  com- 
munion with  God  is  the  welling  up  within  of  a  divine 
life.  Its  new  feeling  toward  God  is  only  the  reflex 
of  God's  feeling  toward  it,  or  rather  is  an  initial  par- 
ticipation in  the  divine  feeling.  When  we  work  out  our 
own  salvation,  our  working  is  not  the  result  of  God's 
working — it  is  itself  God's  working  in  us,  both  to  will 
and  to  work  of  his  good  pleasure. 

Schleiermacher  was  a  Reformed  rather  than  a 
Lutheran  theologian.  He  held,  indeed,  that  election 
and  foreknowledge  are  only  different  ways  of  viewing 
the  same  thing,  and  in  this  he  agreed  with  the  state- 
ment of  Spinoza,  that,  in  God,  decree  is  the  same  as 
knowledge.  But,  since  our  fundamental  conception 
of  God  is  that  of  causality,  he  regarded  election  as 
logically  prior  to  foreknowledge.  Yet  it  would  be  a 
hasty  judgment  to  call  him  a  Calvinist.  While  in  one 
respect  he  seems  to  accept  the  central  principle  of 
Cah-inism,  in  another  he  swings  so  far  to  the  opposite 
extreme  as  to  leav^e  Lutheranism  far  behind.  While 
the  Lutheran  Church  holds  that  election  is  God's  decree 
to  provide  salvation  for  universal  humanity,  and  that 
individual  appropriation  of  that  salvation  is  not  the 
subject  of  that  decree,  Schleiermacher  held  with  Calvin 
that  election  is  individual,  but  is  only  an  election  to 
earlier  conversion.  All  men  at  last  are  to  come  into 
God's  kingdom.  Thus  Calvinism  and  Restorationism 
go  hand  in  hand. 

Schleiermacher  has  been  called  the  prince  of  media- 
tors. He  aimed  to  reconcile  antitheses  not  by  the  re- 
jection of  either  one  of  the  seemingly  opposing  views, 


46  MISCELLANIES 

but  by  discovering  the  deeper  truth  which  underhes 
them  and  which  each  is  seeking  partially  to  represent. 
He  tried  to  reconcile  science  and  religion,  religion 
and  philosophy,  philosophy  and  theology.  But  he  also 
strove  earnestly  to  reconcile  the  two  great  churches 
v^'hich  divided  Protestant  Germany  between  them,  and 
the  union  of  Lutheran  and  Reformed  in  one  Evan- 
gelical Church,  in  the  year  1817,  was  largely  the  fruit 
of  his  labors.  For  the  time  in  which  he  lived,  his  con- 
ceptions of  the  church  were  singularly  liberal.  While 
he  regarded  the  invisible  church  as  undivided  and 
wholly  conformed  to  truth,  he  claimed  that  the  visible 
church  is  divided  and  partly  in  error.  For  this  reason 
he  was  charitable  to  all  faiths.  He  never  abused  the 
Roman  Catholics,  and  they  showed  their  appreciation 
by  attending  his  funeral.  In  his  "  Discourses "  he 
declared  that  nothing  is  more  unchristian  than  to  seek 
uniformity  in  religion,  and  with  reference  to  the 
union  between  Church  and  State,  he  exclaimed : 
"  Away  with  every  such  union !  thus,  like  Cato,  will 
I  give  my  judgment  even  to  the  end,  or  till  I  live  to 
see  the  union  shattered  to  fragments." 

In  his  later  years  he  modified  his  views  and  gave 
up  the  idea  of  an  invisible  church  altogether,  main- 
taining that  an  invisible  church  is  not  a  church,  and 
that  a  church  is  not  invisible.  But  he  held  always 
to  the  Protestant  principle  that  the  relation  of  the 
individual  to  the  church  depends  upon,  follows,  and 
expresses  his  relation  to  Christ,  in  distinction  from 
the  Romanist  view  that  his  relation  to  Christ  depends 
upon  his  relation  to  the  church.  The  baptism  of  the 
infant  he  considered  of  no  use  to  the  infant,  though 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCIILEIERAIACHER  47 

it  might  be  useful  as  a  symbol  to  the  church.  He 
resented  all  governmental  attempts  to  regulate  purely 
ecclesiastical  concerns.  Though  he  was  a  patriot,  and 
his  words  had  a  mighty  influence  in  unifying  the  Prus- 
sian people  in  their  opposition  to  Napoleon,  he  was 
no  absolutist,  and  his  liberalism  cost  him  the  favor  of 
the  king,  and  at  one  time  endangered  the  tenure  of  his 
professorship.  But  the  storm  blew  over,  and  his  in- 
dependence won  for  him  public  confidence  and  rever- 
ence in  Germany,  such  as  had  been  given  to  no 
preacher  and  teacher  since  the  days  of  Luther. 

In  eschatology,  more  than  in  any  other  portion  of 
Christian  doctrine,  we  see  Schleiermacher  carrying  his 
philosophy  to  its  rigorous  logical  conclusions,  in  al- 
most complete  disregard  of  personal  wishes  and  of 
common  interpretations  of  Scripture.  He  regarded  all 
pictures  of  a  future  life  as  various  ways  of  represent- 
ing an  ideal  which  the  church  is  progressively  to 
realize.  Christ's  second  advent,  the  resurrection,  the 
judgment,  heaven  and  hell,  are  all  representations  of 
present  and  continuous  realities.  They  are  to  be  taken 
not  literally,  but  spiritually;  they  are  not  outward,  but 
inward.  The  endless  persistence  of  the  individual 
seemed  to  him  to  involve  insuperable  difficulties.  Con- 
tinued development  and  perfect  rest  were  to  him  specu- 
latively incompatible.  God-consciousness  did  not  imply 
personal  immortality.  Humility  might  preserve  the 
purest  morality,  while  recognizing  the  limitations  of 
the  individual  life  and  giving  up  the  hope  of  continued 
existence  beyond  the  grave.  Stoicism,  mysticism,  and 
pantheism  are  strangely  mixed  in  such  utterances  as 
these : 


48  MISCELLANIES 

Belief  in  immortality  is  irreligious  rather  than  religious.  It 
betrays  a  cleaving  to  the  finite.  .  .  He  fools  himself  who  makes 
a  difference  between  this  and  another  world.  All  who  have 
religion  know  but  one.  .  .  In  the  midst  of  finiteness  to  be  one 
with  the  Infinite,  and  to  be  eternal  at  every  moment,  this  is  the 
immortality  of  true  religion. 

His  faith  in  the  cessation  of  individual  existence 
at  death  was  sorely  tried,  first  by  the  afflictions  of  his 
friends  and  then  by  his  own  afflictions.  But  he  never 
comforted  others,  and  he  never  comforted  himself, 
with  hopes  of  future  reunion  with  the  loved  and  lost. 
When  Henrietta  von  Willich  lost  the  husband  of  her 
youth,  the  ardent,  thoughtful,  spiritual  preacher  of  the 
gospel,  she  poured  out  her  soul  to  Schleiermacher  in  an 
agony  of  desire  to  get  from  him  some  word  that 
might  assure  her  that  she  and  the  departed  would  meet 
again : 

Schleier,  shall  I  not  find  him  again?  Oh,  my  God,  I  implore 
you,  by  all  that  you  love  and  hold  sacred,  if  you  can,  give 
me  the  certainty  that  I  shall  find  him  again — that  I  shall 
recognize  him !  Tell  me  your  innermost  belief  with  regard  to 
this,  dear  Schleier.  Alas !  it  will  be  annihilation  to  me  to 
lose  this  faith.  In  this  I  live;  through  this  I  bear  with  resigna- 
tion and  serenity;  it  is  the  only  thing  I  look  forward  to,  the 
only  hope  that  sheds  a  faint  glimmer  of  light  on  my  darkened 
existence — to  meet  him  again,  to  live  again  for  him,  to  make 
him  happy.  O  God !  it  is  not  possible ;  it  cannot  be  destroyed ; 
it  is  only  interrupted.  I  can  never  again  be  happy  without  him. 
O  Schleier,  speak  to  my  poor  heart;  tell  me  what  you  believe. 
.  .  When  I  think  that  his  soul  is  dissolved,  merged  in  the 
great  All,  that  the  past  will  not  be  recognized,  that  all  is  over 
— O  Schleier !  this  I  cannot  bear.  Oh,  speak  to  me,  dear,  dear 
friend ! 

What  could  he  say,  who  believed  in  no  physical 
resurrection  or  continued  personal  existence,  even  of 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  49 

the  Lord  Jesus  Christ?  He  could  only  speak,  as  the 
heathen  spoke,  of  submission  to  an  eternal  order,  of 
beautiful  memories,  of  posthumous  influence,  of  ab- 
sorption in  the  universal  life: 

Dear  Jette,  what  can  I  say  to  you?  Certainty  beyond  this  life 
is  not  given  to  us.  Do  not  misunderstand  me.  I  mean  cer- 
tainty, instead  of  phantasy,  which  desires  to  see  everything  in 
distinct  images.  But,  otherwise,  there  is  the  greatest  certainty 
.  .  .  that  for  the  soul  there  is  no  such  thing  as  death,  no 
annihilation.  But  personal  life  is  not  the  essence  of  spiritual 
being;  it  is  but  an  outward  presentment  thereof.  .  .  Your  love 
desires  to  bear  him  in  its  heart,  to  preserve  his  memory  in- 
effaceably,  to  have  his  image  before  you  as  a  holy  and  lifelike 
presence;  and  that  he  thus  lives  on  in  you,  and  lives  anew  in 
your  sweet  children — let  this  be  enough  for  you.  .  .  But  if  your 
imagination  suggest  to  you  a  merging  in  the  great  All,  let  not 
this,  dear  child,  till  you  with  bitter,  poignant  anguish.  Do  not 
conceive  of  it  as  a  lifeless,  but  as  a  living  commingling — as  the 
highest  life.  Is  not  the  ideal  toward  which  we  are  all  striving 
even  in  this  world,  though  we  never  reach  it,  the  merging  of 
the  life  of  each  in  the  life  of  all,  and  the  putting  away  from  us 
every  semblance  of  a  separate  existence?  If  he  lives  in  God,  and 
you  love  him  eternally  in  God,  as  you  knew  God  and  loved 
God  in  him,  can  you  conceive  of  anything  more  glorious  or 
more  delightful?  Is  it  not  the  highest  goal  that  love  can 
reach,  compared  with  which  every  feeling  that  clings  to  the 
personal  life  and  springs  from  that  alone  is  as  nothing?  But 
if  you  picture  to  yourself  a  phenomenal  life  like  the  present- 
dear  daughter,  that  is  an  empty  phantom  that  you  must  try 
to  get  rid  of. 

It  might  almost  seem  as  if  Tennyson,  in  his  "  In  Memo- 
riam,"  had  this  correspondence  in  mind  when  he  wrote: 

That  each,  who  seems  a  separate  whole, 
Should  move  his  rounds,  and  fusing  all 
The  skirts  of  self  again,  should  fall 

Remerging  in  the  general  Soul, 
D 


50  MISCELLANIES 

Is  faith  as  vague  as  all  unsweet: 

Eternal  form  shall  still  divide 

The  eternal  soul  from  all  beside; 
And  I  shall  know  him  when  we  meet; 

And  we  shall  sit  at  endless  feast, 

Enjoying  each  the  other's  good. 

What  vaster  dream  can  hit  the  mood 
Of  Love  on  earth?    He  seeks  at  least 

Upon  the  last  and  sharpest  height, 
Before  the  spirits  fade  away, 
Some  landing-place,  to  clasp  and  say, 
"  Farewell !     We  lose  ourselves  in  light." 

But  a  sharper  trial  than  this  was  in  store  for 
Schleiermacher.  His  only  son,  Nathanael,  a  gracious 
and  promising  child  of  nine  years,  and  as  one  might 
say,  the  child  of  his  old  age,  was  taken  from  him  by 
death.     Of  his  birth  the  father  said: 

With  what  joy  and  tliankfulness  I  received  him!  My  first 
prayer  to  God  was  that  I  might  be  inspired  with  wisdom  and 
power  from  above  to  educate  the  child  to  his  glory.  Then  of  his 
training,  he  continues :  Since  the  boy  had  begun  to  attend 
the  gymnasium,  I  looked  upon  it  as  my  special  vocation  to  take 
him  under  my  more  particular  guidance.  Ultimately  I  had 
arranged  it  so  that  he  studied  in  my  room,  and  thus  I  may  say 
that  there  was  no  hour  in  the  day  in  which  T  did  not  think 
of  the  boy,  and  occupy  myself  with  him,  and  now  in  consequence 
I  miss  him  every  hour.  But  there  is  nothing  to  be  done  but 
to  resign  myself,  and  to  labor  to  transform  the  character  of  my 
grief.  For  struggle  against  it  I  will  not  and  cannot,  and  give 
myself  up  to  it  I  know  I  must  not.  On  the  day  of  his  burial 
already  I  began  to  attend  to  all  my  duties  as  before,  and  life 
goes  on  in  its  old  grooves,  but  more  slowly  and  heavily. 

So,  though  he  declared  that  the  loss  "  drove  the  nails 
into  his  own  coffin,"  this  deeply  grieving  man  had  yet 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  5 1 

the  calm  power  of  self-command  to  make  the  address 
at  the  grave  of  his  child.  That  address  exhibits  so 
clearly  both  the  warmth  of  his  heart  and  the  defects 
of  his  faith  that  I  venture  to  quote  from  it  somewhat 
at  length : 

Dear  friends,  who  have  come  hither  to  mourn  with  a  father 
bowed  at  the  grave  of  his  beloved  child,  1  know  you  have  not 
come  with  the  thought  of  seeing  a  reed  that  is  shaken  by  the 
wind.  What  you  find  is  an  old  trunk  which  simply  does  not 
break  with  the  one  blast  that  from  a  clear  sky  has  suddenly 
stricken  it.  Yes,  so  it  is.  For  a  happy  home  protected  and 
spared  by  heaven  for  twenty  years,  I  have  to  thank  God;  for  an 
official  service  accompanied  for  a  far  longer  time  by  unde- 
served blessing;  for  a  life  full  of  joys  and  sorrows  which  I 
have  lived  in  the  fultilment  of  my  calling  and  in  friendly  sym- 
pathy with  others.  Many  a  heavy  cloud  has  passed  over  my  life, 
but  faith  has  overcome  that  which  came  from  without,  and 
love  has  made  good  that  which  came  from  within.  Now,  how- 
ever, this  one  blow,  the  first  of  its  kind,  has  shattered  my  life 
to  its  very  roots.  Children,  alas,  are  not  only  precious  pledges 
entrusted  to  us  by  God,  for  which  we  have  to  give  account ; 
they  are  not  only  objects  of  endless  care  and  duty,  of  love  and 
prayer ;  they  are  also  an  immediate  blessing  to  the  house,  they 
give  as  much  as  they  receive,  they  freshen  life,  and  they  rejoice 
the  heart.  Such  a  blessing  was  this  boy  for  our  house.  Yes,  if 
the  Redeemer  says  of  these  little  ones  that  their  angels  do  always 
behold  the  face  of  his  Father,  certainly  in  this  child  there 
appeared  to  us  the  kindness  of  our  God,  as  if  such  an  angel 
looked  out  of  his  eyes. 

He  goes  on  to  tell  of  the  prayer  he  had  offered 
at  the  child's  birth  that  fatherly  love  might  never  be 
permitted  by  excess  and  indulgence  to  work  injury  to 
the  little  one.  He  had  named  his  son  Nathanael  with 
the  prayer  that,  like  his  namesake  in  the  Gospel,  he 
might  be  without  guile.  It  does  not  comfort  him,  he 
says,  that  the  child  has  escaped  the  sorrows  and  temp- 


52  MISCELLANIES 

tations  of  this  earthly  life,  for  God  would  have  kept 
him  in  spite  of  such.  Nor  is  he  comforted  by  hopes 
of  future  reunion : 

Many  who  sorrow  draw  comfort,  I  know,  from  a  multiplicity 
of  enticing  pictures  in  which  they  represent  to  themselves  a 
continuous  communion  of  those  who  are  left  behind  with  those 
who  have  gone  on  before,  and  the  more  these  pictures  fill  the 
soul  the  more  all  grieving  over  death  is  quieted.  But  to  the 
man  who  has  accustomed  himself  to  rigor  and  acuteness  of 
thinking,  these  pictures  leave  a  thousand  questions  still  un- 
answered, and  they  lose  thereby  very  much  of  their  power  to 
console.  I  stand  here  then  with  my  comfort  and  my  hope  resting 
solely  upon  the  simple  and  yet  the  rich  word  of  the  Scripture : 
"  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,  but  when  he  shall 
appear  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is  " ;  and  upon  that  mighty  prayer 
of  our  Lord :  "  I  will  that  they  also  whom  thou  hast  given 
me  be  with  me  where  I  am."  Supported  then  by  this  strong 
faith,  and  with  a  childlike  submission  I  say  from  my  heart:  The 
Lord  gave  him  to  me,  the  name  of  the  Lord  be  praised  that  he 
gave  him  to  me,  that  he  lent  to  this  child  a  life  which,  though 
short,  was  glad  and  bright  and  warmed  by  the  gracious  breath 
of  his  love,  that  he  has  so  faithfully  watched  and  guided  it, 
that  no  bitterness  mingles  with  the  preciousness  of  our  recol- 
lections, but  rather  that  we  must  confess  that  through  the  dear 
child  we  have  been  richly  blessed.  The  Lord  has  taken  him ;  his 
name  be  praised  that,  though  he  has  taken  him,  he  has  left  him 
to  us  still,  and  that  he  remains  even  here  in  inextinguishable 
memories  as  a  precious  and  imperishable  possession. 

Then,  after  thanks  to  the  mother  for  the  tender 
care  she  had  given  to  her  son;  to  the  older  children 
for  their  love;  to  the  friends  for  their  sympathy;  after 
acknowledgment  that  parental  training  is  not  perfect, 
and  that  something  of  self-reproach  must  mingle  with 
the  tears  that  are  shed  at  the  funeral  of  every  child ; 
and  after  gentle  admonition  to  those  who  were  present 
to  live  with  those  they  loved  as  if  they  were  soon  to  be 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER 


DO 


separated  from  them,  he  coiieludes  with  this  touching- 
prayer  : 

0  thou  God  who  art  love,  let  me  now  not  only  submit 
myself  to  thine  omnipotence  and  adapt  myself  to  thine  un- 
searchable wisdom,  but  also  recognize  thy  fatherly  love !  Make 
even  this  heavy  trial  the  means  of  new  blessing  in  my  calling! 
For  me  and  for  all  mine  may  this  common  sorrow  become 
a  bond  of  closer  affection,  and  through  it  may  my  whole  family 
attain  to  a  new  reception  of  thy  Spirit !  Grant  that  even  this 
time  of  mourning  may  bring  a  blessing  to  all  who  have  gathered 
liere!  j\Iay  we  all  ripen  evermore  to  that  wisdom  which  looks 
away  from  that  which  is  vain  and  worthless,  which  in  all 
that  is  earthly  and  transitory  sees  and  loves  only  the  eternal, 
and  which  in  all  thy  decrees  finds  also  thy  peace  and  the  eternal 
life  into  which  by  faith  we  enter  through  the  gates  of  death. 
Amen. 

The  Christian  spirit  of  this  address  and  of  its  con- 
chiding  prayer  are  as  unmistakable  as  is  the  absence 
of  that  pecuHar  joy  and  hope  which  is  the  proper 
heritage  of  behevers.  He  could  not  say  with  the 
apostle  that  for  him  "  to  die  was  gain,"  for  to  his 
wife  he  wrote,  after  an  experience  of  his  own  bodily 
weakness : 

1  could  not  sit  down  to  write  to  you,  because  I  was  obliged 
to  think  of  my  sermon,  which  did  not,  however,  turn  out  very 
well,  because  I  was  somewhat  inattentive  then,  and  partly  because 
of  a  very  strange  paroxysm  which  came  over  me  in  the  vestry 
previous  to  my  going  into  the  pulpit,  and  which  I  must  relate 
to  you.  All  of  a  sudden,  I  do  not  know  by  what  concatenation 
of  thought,  such  a  dread  took  hold  of  me  that  I  should  be 
overcome  by  fear  on  the  approach  of  death,  that  it  actually 
brought  on  a  kind  of  physical  depression  which  must  have  had 
a  perceptible  influence  on  my  sermon.  You  know  T  have 
repeatedly  mentioned  to  you  that  I  did  not  feel  quite  sure 
that  I  should  not  fear  death  when  it  came,  but  the  thought  never 
before  overwhelmed  me  in  that  manner. 


54  MISCELLANIES 

He  wished  to  die  in  full  possession  of  his  powers, 
and  this  God  granted  him.  In  the  early  part  of 
February,  1834,  he  was  seized  with  his  last  illness. 
His  physician  announced  the  approach  of  death.  Wife 
and  children  gathered  near  his  bedside.  He  was  calm 
and  gentle,  serious  but  uncomplaining.  And  the  fol- 
lowing are  some  of  his  last  words : 

I  am  in  a  state  between  consciousness  and  unconsciousness, 
but  inwardly  I  enjoy  heavenly  moments.  I  feel  constrained 
to  think  the  profoundest  speculative  thoughts,  and  they  are 
to  me  identical  with  the  deepest  religious  feelings.  .  .  Here 
light  a  sacrificial  flame.  .  .  To  the  children  I  bequeath  the  saying 
from  Saint  John :  "  Love  one  another."  .  .  I  charge  you  to 
greet  all  my  friends,  and  to  tell  them  how  sincerely  I  have  loved 
them.  .  .  I  have  never  clung  to  the  dead  letter,  and  we  have  the 
atoning  death  of  Jesus  Christ,  his  body  and  his  blood.  Do  you 
agree  with  me  in  this  belief?  .  .  Then  let  us  take  the  com- 
munion ! 

Bread  and  wine  were  then  brought  in ;  an  expres- 
sion of  heavenly  rapture  spread  over  his  features;  a 
strange  luster  shone  in  his  eyes ;  a  look  of  beaming 
love  fell  upon  those  present;  and,  after  a  few  devout 
words  of  prayer,  he  began  to  administer  the  ordinance. 
He  gave  to  each  the  bread,  and  last  of  all  he  himself 
partook  of  it.  He  gave  to  each  the  wine  also,  with 
Christ's  words  of  institution :  "  This  cup  is  the  new 
testament  in  my  blood,  which  is  shed  for  many  for  the 
remission  of  sins."  Then  he  said:  "On  these  words 
of  the  Scripture  I  rely;  they  are  the  foundation  of 
my  faith."  He  pronounced  the  benediction,  and 
added :  "  In  this  love  and  communion  we  are,  and  ever 
will  remain,  united."  He  sank  back  upon  his  pillow, 
the  look  of  love  and  rapture  still  upon  his  face,  and, 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  55 

while  his  children  were  still  kneeling  as  they  had 
received  the  elements  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  his  eyes 
closed,  and  Schleiermacher's  earthly  life  was  ended. 
Can  we  doubt  that  he  who  brought  life  and  immortality 
out  from  obscurity  into  clear  daylight  by  his  gospel 
removed  then  the  last  scales  from  his  eyes  and  admitted 
him  into  paradise? 

Schleiermacher  was  a  rationalist,  in  that  he  found 
his  source  of  doctrine  not  in  Scripture,  but  in  man's 
nature ;  he  was  a  supernaturalist,  in  that  he  regarded 
this  nature  of  man  as  pervaded  by  the  divine  Spirit, 
and  as  being  for  that  reason  itself  a  revelation  of 
God.  As  he  strove  with  imperfect  success  to  reconcile 
two  seemingly  opposite  views  of  truth,  it  is  not  won- 
derful that  subsequent  German  theology  has  divided 
into  two  schools,  each  of  which  emphasizes  one  side 
of  his  doctrine.  Strauss  and  Baur,  Biedermann,  Lip- 
sius,  and  Pfleiderer  have  been  greatly  influenced  by 
Hegel,  and  have  transformed  Christian  doctrine  into 
a  sort  of  idealistic  philosophy.  Ritschl,  Harnack, 
Hermann,  and  Kaftan  have  followed  Kant,  and  have 
given  us  a  theology  dominated  by  the  principle  of 
relativity.  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that, 
apart  from  all  these,  there  stands  a  third  class  of  pious 
ministers  and  laymen,  who  are  neither  rationalists  nor 
agnostics,  but  who  perpetuate,  because  they  have  ex- 
perienced, the  simple  gospel  which  Schleiermacher 
found  among  the  Moravians,  and  which  constituted,  in 
spite  of  his  philosophic  aberrations,  the  inmost  essence 
of  his  faith  and  the  anchor  of  his  soul. 

In  our  day,  with  increasing  knowledge  of  his  wri- 
tings, there  is  an  increasing  disposition  to  follow  him. 


56  MISCELLANIES 

and  there  are  not  wanting  those  who  would  have  us 
go  back  to  Schleiermacher  for  mediation  between  con- 
flicting tendencies  in  modern  thought.  Much  of  our 
recent  theology,  indeed,  is  but  a  repetition  of  ideas 
which  with  him  were  original  and  independent.  We 
may  grant  that  his  recognition  of  God's  immanence 
has  furnished  the  key  to  many  problems  and  has  been 
of  inestimable  benefit  to  theology.  But  his  denial 
of  God's  transcendence  and  personality  is  an  error  so 
vast  and  pernicious  as  well-nigh  to  neutralize  the  effect 
of  the  truth  he  proclaims.  Like  King  Procrustes,  he 
cut  short  the  truth  in  order  to  make  it  fit  the  bed  of 
his  pantheistic  philosophy.  Because  he  held  unwaver- 
ingly to  the  reality  of  a  divine  life  in  the  soul,  God 
used  him  to  deliver  Germany  from  the  rationalistic 
slough  into  which  it  had  fallen  and  to  point  the  way 
to  a  sounder  faith.  But  in  most  respects  he  is  a  poor 
guide  to  follow.  Charles  Hodge  has  well  said  that 
Schleiermacher  is  like  a  ladder  in  a  pit — a  good  thing 
for  those  who  wish  to  get  out,  but  a  bad  thing  for 
those  who  wish  to  get  in. 

The  Christocentric  element  in  Schleiermacher,  next 
to  his  advocacy  of  the  immanence  of  God,  is  the  most 
important  element  in  the  theologian,  the  preacher,  and 
the  man.  He  recognized  that  in  man's  sinfulness  and 
impotence  the  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  is  the  only 
means  of  redemption.  As  to  Christ's  person  and 
work  he  fell  into  many  and  grievous  errors,  yet  he 
never  ceased  to  confess  his  absolute  dependence  upon 
him  for  salvation.  He  could  never  escape  from  the 
influence  of  Herrnhut.  "  The  Moravian  Brother- 
hood," says  Dorner,  "  was  his  mother,  though  Greece 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    SCHLEIERMACHER  5/ 

was  his  nurse."  It  shows  us  how  powerful  God  can 
make  even  a  fragment  of  his  truth,  when  we  see  this 
man  creating  a  new  epoch  in  Germany,  and  bringing 
theology  back  to  Christ  and  the  Christian  faith.  He 
came  forth  from  the  dead  church  of  Germany  like 
Lazarus  from  the  tomb;  the  grave-clothes  of  a  pan- 
theistic philosophy  entangled  his  steps;  yet  the  spec- 
tacle of  a  man  raised  from  the  death  of  unbelief  and 
sin,  and  full  of  the  life  of  God,  drew  men's  thoughts  to 
Christ,  the  worker  of  the  miracle.  Christ  guided  him, 
though  he  did  not  fully  know  Christ.  Of  Schleier- 
macher  more  than  of  most  reformers  it  may  be  said : 

Himself  from  God  he  could  not  free; 
He  builded  better  than  he  knew. 


XXVI 

EZEKIEL  OILMAN  ROBINSON  AS  A 
THEOLOGIAN  ' 

In  attempting  a  sketch  of  Doctor  Robinson's  theology, 
I  find  myself  unable  to  dissociate  the  doctrine  from 
the  preacher,  the  administrator,  and  the  man.  To  him 
as  my  teacher  and  predecessor  I  owe  more  than  I  owe 
to  any  one  else  outside  of  my  own  family  circle.  And 
since  this  indebtedness  must  color  all  my  judgments, 
it  will  be  best  to  state  frankly,  at  the  start,  what  the 
debt  was;  the  reader  can  then  make  what  allowance 
he  chooses  for  the  personal  equation. 

Some  of  my  earliest  impulses  to  preach  were  deter- 
mined by  Doctor  Robinson's  magnificent  bearing  in 
the  pulpit  when,  as  a  boy,  I  listened  to  him  in  the  early 
years  of  his  work  at  Rochester.  He  dealt  with  great 
themes,  yet  he  was  a  master  of  extemporaneous  speech. 
His  lucid,  intense,  and  thoughtful  utterance,  exact  in 
expression,  yet  always  simply  and  severely  natural, 
keyed  ordinarily  to  a  h'gh  intellectual  pitch,  but  tremu- 
lous at  times  with  emotion,  revolutionized  all  my  ideas 
of  oratory,  and  I  desired  to  be  a  minister  of  the  gospel 
that  I  might  be  a  public  teacher.  When  I  left  college, 
and  had  to  choose  a  place  of  seminary  training,  it 
seemed  to  me  that  no  one  but  Doctor  Robinson  could 


1  Contributed  as  a  chapter  in  "  Ezekiel  Oilman  Robinson:  An  Autobiogra- 
pliy,"  published  by  Silver,  Burdett  &  Co. 


58 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  59 

teach  me  how  to  preach.  I  began  my  course  full  of 
literature  and  history,  but  with  small  thought  of  the 
greater  problems  of  existence.  In  his  classroom  I 
found  my  intellectual  awakening.  His  searching  cjues- 
tions,  and  the  discussions  that  followed,  roused  my 
thinking  powers  as  nothing  ever  had  before.  It  be- 
came the  pursuit  of  a  lifetime  to  know  the  truth. 

Of  dogmatic  instruction  in  theology,  in  those  years 
1857-1859,  there  was  little.  His  brief  dictations  con- 
stituted not  so  much  a  system  as  a  series  of  suggestions 
to  stimulate  inquiry.  Our  teacher  appeared  to  be  feel- 
ing his  way  along,  and  his  great  anxiety  seemed  to  be 
that  each  of  his  pupils  should  feel  his  own  way. 
Nothing  vexed  him  more  than  a  lazy  repetition  of 
traditional  formulae.  He  often  challenged  even  a  correct 
statement,  in  order  to  see  whether  the  utterer  under- 
stood what  he  was  saying.  Aside  from  the  magnetic, 
inspiring,  and  transforming  influence  of  his  own  per- 
sonality, the  greatest  service  he  rendered  us  was  that 
he  taught  us  to  think  for  ourselves. 

As  a  theologian,  he  was  at  this  time  critical  rather 
than  constructive.  He  represented  the  tendencies  of 
Brown  and  Newton,  rather  than  those  of  Hamilton, 
from  which  his  predecessor.  Doctor  Maginnis,  had 
come.  Doctor  Maginnis,  our  teacher  of  theology  dur- 
ing the  first  two  years  of  the  seminary's  existence,  was 
a  Princeton  theologian  of  the  straitest  sect.  But  Doc- 
tor Robinson  at  Brown  University  had  been  under  the 
influence  of  President  Wayland,  who  was  partly  edu- 
cated at  Andover,  and  was  a  great  admirer  of  Profes- 
sor Stuart.  At  Newton  Theological  Institution  Doc- 
tor Robinson  had  been  instructed  by  Dr,  Irah  Chase 


60  MISCELLANIES 

and  Dr.  Barnas  Sears.  Doctor  Chase  taught  a  the- 
ology so  unHke  that  of  Princeton  that  some  of  our  ex- 
tremely orthodox  ministers  refused  to  put  their  sons 
under  what  they  regarded  as  heterodox  teaching.  Doc- 
tor Sears  taught  but  little  positive  doctrine  of  any  kind. 
His  method  was  to  suggest  questions  rather  than  to 
answer  them.  Scholarship  and  discussion  were  the 
main  features  of  his  classroom.  No  one  of  these  teach- 
ers of  Doctor  Robinson  had  been  strongly  conservative. 
All  had  been  men  noted  for  independence  as  well  as 
for  thinking  power. 

Doctor  Robinson  began  his  theological  teaching  in  a 
place  where  the  traditions,  though  brief,  were  in  favor 
of  an  old-fashioned  theology.  New  England  thinking 
was  regarded  as  a  sort  of  free-thinking.  Doctor 
Shedd's  realistic  interpretations  of  the  old  orthodoxy 
were  not  yet  widely  known,  even  if  they  had  been  pub- 
lished. Princeton  still  claimed  to  represent  the  im- 
memorial faith  of  the  church  of  God.  There  were 
elements  of  the  Old  School  doctrine  which  Doctor 
Robinson  cherished  as  his  very  life.  Neither  Andover 
nor  New  Haven  ever  made  a  convert  of  him.  He 
even  seems  to  have  tried,  at  the  first,  to  use  the  tradi- 
tional formulae  of  the  theology  of  the  Covenants.  But 
it  is  clear  to  me  that  he  felt  the  arbitrariness  and  ex- 
ternalism  of  the  Princeton  system,  even  though  he  had 
not  shaken  himself  wholly  loose  from  it.  The  lectures 
which  he  dictated  at  this  time  are  cautious  statements 
of  the  dominant  orthodoxy,  with  its  more  mechanical 
features  greatly  softened  down,  and  with  the  accom- 
panying suggestion  of  new  points  of  view  which  logic- 
ally imply  another  and  a  better  faith. 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  6 1 

We  must  remember  that  he  always  taught  homiletics 
side  by  side  with  theology,  and  that  he  deeply  felt  the 
responsibility  of  instructing  men  who  were  to  repeat 
his  views  to  all  the  world  with  an  emphasis  and  exag- 
geration of  their  own.  Therefore  he  made  haste 
slowly.  He  was  no  iconoclast.  He  never  intended  to 
break  with  the  old.  He  regarded  theological  terms 
as  largely  metaphorical,  and  his  aim  was  to  discover 
the  substance  that  underlay  them.  He  could  have  sub- 
scribed to  John  Bunyan's  couplet : 

My  dark  and  cloudy  words,  they  do  but  hold 
The  truth,  as  cabinets  encase  the  gold. 

He  criticized  with  great  severity  the  legal  fictions  of 
the  Princeton  school,  but  he  had  the  deepest  reverence 
for  the  reality  which  they  sought  so  unfortunately  to 
express.  In  fact,  I  regard  the  passionate  bent  toward 
reality  as  the  central  characteristic  of  his  intellectual 
life.  Shows  and  forms  he  had  small  sympathy  with. 
He  would  get  at  the  inner  being.  He  censured  all 
theologizing  that  did  not  go  to  the  heart  of  the  matter. 
He  disdained  all  conduct  that  savored  of  pretense. 
When  he  spoke,  he  would  say  nothing,  or  he  would  say 
the  truth.  The  truth,  as  he  at  the  time  conceived  it, 
was  often  biting  and  galling  to  those  wdiose  view^s  he 
antagonized.  But  Doctor  Robinson  did  not  spare  on 
that  account.  Like  Stein,  the  great  German,  he  was 
proud  toward  man,  but  humble  toward  God. 

From  1853  to  1872  he  was  professor  of  Biblical  The- 
ology in  the  Rochester  Theological  Seminary,  and  from 
1868  to  1872  he  was  its  president.  During  all  the  years 
of  his  professorship,  as  well  as  of  his  presidency,  he 


62  MISCELLANIES 

was  the  one  man  who  gave  name  and  fame  to  the  insti- 
tution, and  the  one  man  who  drew  to  it  students  and 
endowments.  Doctors  Conant  and  Hotchkiss  and 
Northrup  and  Kendrick  and  Hackett  and  Rauschen- 
busch  and  Buckland  were,  in  those  early  days,  most 
able  coadjutors,  and  their  services  were  very  great. 
But  it  is  still  true  that  to  Doctor  Robinson  the  institu- 
tion at  Rochester  owes  more  of  its  character  and  suc- 
cess than  to  any  other  single  man.  The  seminary, 
which  at  the  beginning  of  his  administration  in  1853 
was  absolutely  destitute  of  property  or  endowments, 
had,  in  1872,  resources  amounting  to  $224,000.  This 
increase  represents  an  amount  of  personal  and  skilful 
work  on  the  part  of  one  man  which  would  simply  chal- 
lenge admiration,  if  it  were  not  so  pathetic  and  incon- 
gruous an  expenditure  of  energy.  That  a  thinker  and 
teacher  of  such  mark  should  have  been  compelled  to 
turn  aside  from  his  proper  work  in  order  to  solicit  rich 
men's  gifts,  and  to  make  his  own  living,  not  by  his 
week-day  instruction,  but  by  his  Sunday  preaching,  is 
pitiful  enough.  Yet  such  are  the  toils  and  trials  that 
have  gone  to  the  founding  of  all  our  great  educational 
institutions. 

The  institution  prospered — prospered  so  much  that 
Brown  University  coveted  its  president,  and  at  last  suc- 
ceeded in  drawing  him  away  to  another  sphere  of  labor. 
But  this  prosperity  was  purchased  at  a  price.  Doctor 
Robinson  had  not  the  time  nor  the  strength  which  he 
ought  to  have  had  for  the  maturing  and  the  publishing 
of  his  theological  system.  He  was  not  a  ready  writer, 
and  systematizing  with  him  was  a  slow  work.  His 
critical   faculty  was  always  asserting  itself,  and  was 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  U3 

hindering  the  work  of  positive  construction.  But  be- 
fore his  teaching  at  Rochester  ended,  his  views  had  to 
a  considerable  extent  crystallized,  and  he  had  proceeded 
a  long  way  in  the  elaboration  of  his  "  Christian  The- 
ology." Three  hundred  and  twenty  pages  of  it  were 
actually  printed.  He  reached  the  subject  of  Regenera- 
tion ;  but  there  the  work  stopped.  His  new  duties  at 
Brown  absorbed  him,  and  theology  was  never  taken 
up  again.  The  loose  sheets,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  which  fell  into  the  hands  of  favored  friends,  have 
been  boxed  up  for  these  twenty-two  years.  And  so 
the  work  remains,  like  Aladdin's  palace-hall,  with  only 
a  window  to  add,  but  with  no  one  to  finish  it." 

When  I  began  my  own  work,  as  Doctor  Robinson's 
successor,  I  deeply  felt  the  overmastering  influence  of 
his  teaching.  I  knew  that  my  ways  of  theological 
thinking  had  been  largely  shaped  by  him.  I  feared,  if 
I  made  use  of  his  recently  printed  notes,  that  I  should 
become  a  copyist.  I  resolved,  therefore,  to  construct 
my  own  sytem  dc  novo,  without  once  looking  at  what 
my  former  teacher  had  written.  In  fact,  the  pages  of 
his  work  have  only,  within  a  few  months,  been  in  my 
hands  for  careful  scrutiny. 

Two  things  I  desire  to  say  with  regard  to  the  im- 
pressions which  the  reading  has  made  upon  me.  First, 
I  have  a  new  reverence  for  the  general  weight  and  cor- 
rectness of  Doctor  Robinson's  theological  teaching. 
Here  is  a  noble  body  of  doctrine,  grand  in  its  leading 
conception,  wrought  out  with  singular  originality,  and 


2  Since  this  article  was  written,  the  "  Christian  Theology  "  of  Doctor 
Robinson,  the  latter  part  copied  from  the  notebooks  of  former  students, 
has  been  published  by  the  E.  R.  Andrews  Printing  Company,  Rochester, 
N.   Y.,   1904. 


64  MISCELLANIES 

in  most  of  its  lines  true  to  Scripture.  The  quarter 
of  a  century  which  has  passed  since  he  began  to  print  it 
has  brought  some  new  truths  into  prominence;  if  he 
could  now  write  it  over  again,  he  would,  doubtless, 
qualify  some  of  his  statements  and  make  others  clearer; 
yet  it  is  still  true  that  the  work  is  even  now  one  of 
great  significance,  and  sure,  if  published,  to  attract  the 
attention  and  respect  of  the  theological  world.  Sec- 
ondly, I  am  humbled  to  find  how  much  of  my  own 
thinking  that  I  thought  original  has  been  an  uncon- 
scious reproduction  of  his  own.  Words  and  phrases 
which  I  must  have  heard  from  him  in  the  classroom 
thirty-five  years  ago,  and  which  have  come  to  be  a  part 
of  my  mental  furniture,  I  now  recognize  as  not  my 
own,  but  his.  And  the  ruling  idea  of  his  system — 
that  stands  out  as  the  ruling  idea  of  mine ;  I  did  not 
realize  until  now  that  I  owed  it  almost  wholly  to  him. 
Jean  Paul  says,  beautifully,  of  the  obscure  teachers 
of  village  schools,  that  they  fall  from  notice  like  the 
spring  blossoms,  but  they  fall  that  the  fruit  may  be 
born.  Doctor  Robinson's  self-effacing  way  of  pouring 
his  own  mind  and  will  into  his  pupils,  rather  than 
of  putting  himself  into  printed  books,  has  lessened 
his  fame,  but  it  has  brought  forth  abundant  fruit. 
Through  hundreds  of  the  foremost  men  of  our  Bap- 
tist denomination,  he  has  been  preaching  truth  and 
righteousness  for  forty  years.  I  wish  to  be  one  of  the 
first  to  put  the  praise  where  it  belongs,  and  to  say 
that  the  impulse  to  clear  and  manly  utterance  in  the 
pulpit,  the  love  of  exact  statement,  the  disposition  to 
preach  truth  rather  than  tradition,  which  have  of  late 
years  transformed  our  Baptist  pulpit  and  brought  it 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  65 

abreast  of  our  advancing  age,  have  been  chiefly  due, 
under  God,  to  the  teaching  and  the  example  of  Doctor 
Robinson. 

I  have  said  that  the  passionate  bent  toward  reahty 
was  the  central  characteristic  of  his  intellectual  life. 
He  believed  in  reality  because  he  believed  in  God.  Yet 
many  of  his  struggles  and  difficulties  originated  in  a 
philosophy  which  obscured  the  testimony  of  our  nature 
to  God's  existence  and  attributes.  He  had  been  greatly 
influenced  by  the  reading  of  Kant.  Hamilton  and 
Mansel,  who  reproduced  a  part  of  Kant's  doctrine, 
strongly  attracted  him.  The  relativity  of  knowledge 
perpetually  discounted  the  things  of  faith.  It  is  in- 
teresting to  see  how  Doctor  Robinson,  while  greatly 
influenced  by  this  philosophy,  made  his  way,  notwith- 
standing, through  it,  and  in  spite  of  it,  to  essential 
truth  both  with  regard  to  God  and  with  regard  to 
God's  revelation.  He  was  one  of  the  first  in  this 
country  to  subject  the  common  arguments  for  the 
existence  of  God  to  a  careful  criticism,  after  the 
Kantian  fashion.  Here,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  he  was 
the  sworn  foe  to  overstatement  in  doctrine, — indeed, 
he  preferred  to  err  on  the  side  of  doubt  rather  than 
on  the  side  of  dogmatism.  Rational  minds,  he  would 
say,  cannot  observe  their  own  laws  of  thought  in  the 
contemplation  of  cosmical  phenomena  without  believ- 
ing in  a  primal  and  personal  Force,  lying  behind 
all,  and  originating  the  universal  whole.  The  world 
abounds  in  adaptations  to  ends;  therefore  the  world 
must  have  been  purposed ;  or,  in  other  words,  there  is 
a  personal  Intelligence  by  whom  it  has  been  fashioned. 
Man,  with  his  aspirations  and  cravings,  can  find  an 

E 


66  MISCELLANIES 

ideal  only  in  God,  while  the  moral  distinctions  which 
man  is  forced  to  make  give  unmistakable  testimony  to 
the  existence  of  One  who  is  at  once  man's  Author  and 
his  ultimate  Standard  of  right  and  wrong. 

Although  I  do  not  find  anywhere,  in  Doctor  Robin- 
son's chapter  on  God's  existence,  the  phrase  "  imma- 
nent finality,"  I  do  find  such  an  avoidance  of  the  old 
"  carpenter-phraseology  "  as  to  suggest  that  he  viewed 
God's  relation  to  the  universe  as  not  mechanical,  but 
organic.  Yet  while  man,  conscious  of  causality,  intel- 
ligence, and  responsibility  in  himself,  is  reminded,  as  he 
looks  out  into  the  universe,  of  a  supreme  and  universal 
Cause,  Intelligence,  and  Judge,  no  one  of  all  the  argu- 
ments can  be  said  to  be  a  demonstration.  "  The  evi- 
dence of  the  Divine  existence  is  not  so  much  logical 
as  moral ;  it  is  adjusted  rather  to  the  eye  of  the  soul 
than  to  the  logical  faculty;  if  the  eye  be  darkened,  God 
is  not  seen  in  any  evidence  of  his  being."  It  is  to  man's 
moral  consciousness,  then,  rather  than  to  argument, 
that  Doctor  Robinson  would  appeal,  while  he  still 
regards  the  arguments  for  God's  existence  as  valuable 
means  of  stimulating  this  consciousness,  and  of  calling 
attention  to  the  revelations  which  God  has  made  of 
himself. 

There  is  a  striking  similarity  between  our  author's 
method  in  speaking  of  inspiration,  and  his  method 
in  speaking  of  the  existence  of  God.  He  treats  God's 
revelation  in  his  word  just  as  he  treats  God's  revelation 
in  nature.  As  it  is  not  the  fragments  and  petty  details 
of  the  universe  that  reveal  the  designing  Mind,  so  in 
the  Bible,  the  argument  for  inspiration  is  drawn  from 
the  book  as  a  whole  rather  than  from  its  separate  parts. 


THE    THEOLOGY   OF    ROBINSON  6/ 

To  inspire,  he  woiikl  say,  was  not  necessarily  to  edu- 
cate.    The  whole  early  church  w^as  inspired,  and  the 
office   of  tlie   Spirit   in   inspiration   was  not  different 
from   that   which    he   performed    for   many   ordinary 
Christians  at  the  time  when  the  New  Testament  was 
written.      Inspiration    was    consistent    with    imperfect 
ideas  in  the  minds  of  the  Scripture  writers,  and  the 
literary,  logical,  scientific,  and  historical  defects  which 
modern  investigation  has  made  apparent  are  only  in- 
dications of  a  human  element  which  the  divine  pressed 
into  its  service,  or  in  spite  of  which  the  truth  was  pro- 
gressively unfolded.     The  higher  criticism  had  not  be- 
come rife  when  Doctor  Robinson  constructed  his  sys- 
tem; but  the  principle  and  spirit  of  it,  so  far  as  it  is 
theistic  and  reverent,  are  Doctor  Robinson's  own,  and 
his  whole  conception  of  inspiration  is  surprisingly  like 
that  which  has  of  late  become  so  current.     He  did  not 
regard  the  imprecations  of  the  Psalms,   for  example, 
as  inspired  by  God.      Only   the  divine  purposes  and 
ideas  were  inspired,  and  the  imprecations  were  but  the 
drapery  or  the  vehicle  by  which  those  purposes  and 
ideas  were  necessarily  interpreted  to  early  times.     ;\s 
David's  adultery  was  not  commanded  by  God,  yet  was 
made  the  means  of  the  descent  of  Christ,  so  human 
error  was  sometimes  made  the  means  of  introducing 
into  the  world  the  revelation  of  the  perfect  God. 

Yet  Doctor  Robinson  declares  the  Christian  re- 
ligion "  to  be,  in  comparison  with  all  other  religions, 
in  an  exclusive  sense,  revealed,"  and  its  records  were 
"  made  by  men  who  were  guided,  as  no  other  writers 
ever  were,  by  an  omniscient  Spirit."  He  discards  all 
theories  of  inspiration,  and  "  declines  any  attempt  to 


68  MISCELLANIES 

State  by  what  method  the  Spirit  must  have  fulfilled 
the  divine  will  in  the  writing  of  the  Scriptures."  Each 
of  the  Scripture  penmen,  indeed,  received  and  com- 
municated the  truth  in  his  own  way,  and  with  such 
mingling  of  the  human  element  with  the  divine  that 
it  is  impossible  to  distinguish  between  the  word  of 
God  and  the  Scriptures  through  which  that  word  has 
come  to  us.  "  The  Bible  can  be  properly  understood 
only  as  a  whole,  as  an  organic  growth  of  many  cen- 
turies, all  of  which  is  necessary  to  be  taken  into  ac- 
count if  we  would  see  the  consistency  of  its  parts,  the 
one  with  another;  and  though  the  writings  of  each 
age.  Mosaic,  Prophetic,  and  Christian,  are  now  requi- 
site to  the  completeness  and  intelligibility  of  Scrip- 
ture as  a  whole,  yet  to  each  age  its  own  revelations 
and  writings,  conjoined  with  all  that  had  preceded, 
must  have  been  absolutely  authoritative,  because  it  was 
as  complete  and  explicit  a  revelation  of  the  divine 
Mind  as  then  was  possible." 

This  view  of  the  organic  unity  of  Scripture,  and 
the  doctrine  that  Scripture,  only  as  a  whole,  represents 
absolute  truth,  were  views  not  common  when  Doctor 
Robinson  began  to  teach.  The  clear  statement  of 
them,  indeed,  was  wrought  out  only  toward  the  close 
of  his  theological  career.  But  the  substance  of  them 
had  lain  long  in  his  mind,  and  even  his  earliest  students 
can  remember  the  impatience  with  which  he  regarded 
the  quotation  of  an  isolated  verse,  as  if  it  were  a  proof- 
text  apart  from  its  context  and  its  historical  setting. 
Hence  he  supplemented  all  other  biblical  arguments  by 
"  the  analogy  of  faith."  For  the  Bible,  as  a  whole, 
he  had  profound  reverence.     Though  he  did  not  assert 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  69 

that  it  was  inerrant  in  unimportant  matters  of  his- 
torical and  scientitic  detail,  he  did  believe  it  to  be  a 
complete  and  sufficient  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  Yet 
he  did  not  deny  that  infinite  wisdom  has  provided 
many  helps  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures.  History, 
science,  philosophy  could  even  be  called  "  collateral 
sources  of  theology."  By  this  he  meant  that  physical 
nature  and  human  nature  are  themselves  revelations 
of  God,  and  that  from  them  we  are  to  learn  all  we  can, 
though  the  "  one  direct  and  controlling  source  to 
which  the  decisive  appeal  must  always  be  made  is  the 
sacred  Scriptures." 

The  attributes  of  God  were  defined  by  Doctor  Robin- 
son as  "  our  methods  of  conceiving  of  him."  Here  I 
think  he  yielded  too  much  to  the  Kantian  and  Hamil- 
tonian  relativity,  and  made  it  possible  to  regard  the 
attributes  as  existing  only  in  our  subjective  thought. 
But  the  further  development  of  the  subject  makes  it 
plain  that  he  did  not  intend  to  be  so  interpreted. 
"  Any  argumentation,"  he  says,  "  which  will  show  that 
our  conceptions  of  God  can  only  be  relatively  true  to 
us,  and  not  positively  true  in  themselves,  will  equally 
avail  to  overthrow  the  trustworthiness  of  all  our  knowl- 
edge, and  can  end  only  in  universal  skepticism.  Our 
conceptions  are  inadequate,  but  not,  therefore,  untrue ; 
they  are  limited  because  we  are  finite,  but  not,  there- 
fore, contradictory  or  false."  This  is  sound  and  true. 
How,  then,  shall  we  interpret  such  dicta  as  the  fol- 
lowing: "The  attributes  do  not  represent  distinguish- 
able properties  in  the  divine  essence.  .  .  To  suppose 
that  we  treat  of  essence  when  we  treat  of  attributes 
is  to  confound  God  with  our  conceptions  of  him."     I 


yO  MISCELLANIES 

can  answer  my  own  question  only  by  saying  that  Doc- 
tor Robinson  was  hampered  here  by  a  wrong  philos- 
ophy. To  him,  as  to  Kant,  the  essence  was  always 
"  the  thing  in  itself,"  and  could  not  be  known.  A 
more  modern  and  more  correct  philosophy  admits  no 
such  element  of  inherent  and  eternal  agnosticism. 
Though  essence  can  be  known  only  through  attributes, 
it  is  still  true  that,  in  knowing  attributes,  we  know 
essence.  Surely  God  is  not  concealed  by  his  very 
manifestation.  The  reason  why  we  cannot  perfectly 
know  God  is  that  we  cannot  perfectly  know  his  at- 
tributes, not  that  knowledge  of  attributes  does  not  in- 
volve knowledge  of  essence.  We  do  not  fully  know 
God's  attributes  because  he  has  not  fully  revealed 
them,  and  because  we  are  not  great  enough  to  under- 
stand them.  But  we  do  know  them  in  part,  and  in  just 
so  far  we  know  God.  As  in  knowing  phenomena  we 
know  the  object,  so  in  knowing  God's  attributes  we 
partially  know  God  himself.  Attributes,  therefore, 
should  be  defined,  not  as  our  conceptions  of  God.  but 
rather  as  those  objective  characteristics  of  the  divine 
Being  which  are  necessary  to  the  idea  of  God,  and 
which  constitute  the  basis  and  ground  for  his  various 
manifestations  to  his  creatures. 

The  slightly  agnostic  element  to  which  I  have  al- 
luded combined  wMth  Doctor  Robinson's  critical  faculty 
to  tone  down  his  statements  and  to  make  them  severely 
self-restrained.  All  the  more  strong  and  convincing 
were  his  teachings  on  matters  where  he  had  made 
discoveries  or  had  invented  new  methods.  We  must 
give  to  him  the  credit  for  a  new  classification  of  the 
divine  attributes  according  to  the  order  of  the  relations 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  7I 

that  make  them  known;  first,  attributes  related  to 
space  and  time,  as  immensity  and  eternity;  secondly, 
attributes  related  to  the  material  universe,  as  omni- 
presence, omniscience,  and  omnipotence;  thirdly,  at- 
tributes related  to  moral  creatures,  as  holiness,  truth, 
love.  But  it  is  especially  in  his  recognition  of  holi- 
ness, as  the  fundamental  and  supreme  attribute,  that 
I  find  his  greatest  originality  and  his  greatest  service 
to  the  theology  of  our  time.  When  we  remember 
how  the  New  England  theology  was  exalting  be- 
nevolence, or  the  love  of  being  in  general,  to  the 
supreme  place,  and,  by  making  holiness  a  means  to 
an  end,  was  denying  to  it  any  independent  existence 
in  the  divine  nature ;  when  we  remember  how  even  Old 
School  theologians  defined  holiness  as  the  mere  aggre- 
gate of  the  divine  perfections,  and  so  deprived  it  of  any 
distinct  significance — we  can  appreciate  the  originality 
and  the  grandeur  of  Doctor  Robinson's  view,  when 
he  declared  that  "  holiness  should  be  our  fundamental 
conception,"  and  that  "  from  it  every  other  moral  at- 
tribute may  be  synthetized  or  logically  deduced." 

Our  materialistic  and  easy-going  age  has  drifted 
even  farther  from  the  truth  than  it  was  a  quarter  of 
a  century  ago.  Doctor  Robinson  foresaw  the  conse- 
quences to  theology  and  to  morals  of  a  virtually  util- 
itarian philosophy,  and  he  laid  the  foundation  of  his 
system  in  the  ethical  being  of  God.  \\'hat  conscience 
declares  to  be  highest  in  us  must  be  highest  in  God. 
"  Justice  does  not  exist  for  certain  ends;  it  is  the  ex- 
pression of  eternal  right ;  it  is  the  inexorable  demand 
of  related  moral  natures.  Accompanying  benefits  re- 
veal   neither   the    grounds   of    its   existence    nor   the 


y2  MISCELLANIES 

qualities  of  its  nature.''  Instead  of  holiness  being  a 
form  of  love,  it  is  far  more  true  that  love  is  a  form  of 
holiness,  "  A  pure  being  seeks  the  purity  of  others, 
and  in  so  doing  shows  his  mercy.  Benevolence  is  only 
a  generic  and  more  comprehensive  conception  than 
mercy."  This  view  of  holiness  as  the  fundamental  at- 
tribute of  God  prepares  the  way  for  what  was  probably 
the  most  impressive  and  inspiring  part  of  his  teaching; 
I  mean  his  idea  of  law  as  the  expression  of  God's 
holiness,  or  the  transcript  of  the  moral  nature  of  God. 
No  man  who  sat  under  Doctor  Robinson's  instruction 
can  ever  forget  the  scorn  with  which  he  treated  the 
vulgar  notion  of  law  as  something  devised  or  invented, 
a  makeshift  to  meet  an  exigency,  an  arbitrary  enact- 
ment for  the  good  of  the  creature,  founded  in  mere 
will,  unmade  as  easily  as  made,  suspended  or  abrogated 
by  fiat  even  as  mere  fiat  had  given  it  birth.  Nor  can 
any  student  of  his  forget  his  sublime  and  perpetual  in- 
sistence on  moral  law  as  the  eternal  and  unchangeable 
expression  of  the  nature  of  God  and  the  relations  be- 
tween God  and  his  creatures — an  expression  so  eternal 
and  unchangeable  that  God  himself  cannot  change  his 
law  without  ceasing  to  be  God. 

By  these  conceptions  of  holiness  and  law  Doctor 
Robinson  defined  his  position  as  an  Old  School  man, 
and  made  it  impossible  that  he  should  have  any  other 
than  an  Old  School  view  of  sin.  For,  observe  that 
this  law,  which  is  itself  the  transcript  of  the  divine 
holiness,  is  simply  the  demand  in  the  nature  of  things 
that  the  creature  within  the  limits  of  its  own  being 
should  be  morally  like  its  Creator.  Law  requires  con- 
formity to  God,  therefore,  not  only  in  act  and  in  dis- 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  "J 2> 

position,  but  in  the  very  state  and  substance  of  the 
soul.  All  lack  of  conformity  to  God  is  sin.  Guilt  is 
the  obligation  to  suffer  for  such  lack,  and  penalty  is  the 
natural  reaction  of  the  violated  law.  Is  man  unlike 
God  in  act,  disposition,  or  state?  Then,  however,  he 
came  into  this  condition,  he  is  sinful,  guilty,  punish- 
able. All  men  by  nature,  and  from  their  first  father 
down,  are  in  this  state  of  sin  and  guilt  and  punish- 
ment, and  can  be  delivered  from  it,  not  by  any  effort 
or  merit  of  their  own,  but  solely  by  the  grace  and 
power  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ.  If  we  speak  of  Doctor 
Robinson's  soteriology,  we  might  find  something  to 
criticize;  but  in  our  judgment  his  doctrine  of  holiness, 
law,  and  sin  is  worthy  of  all  praise. 

I  have  put  these  three  things — holiness,  law,  and  sin 
— together,  although  they  are  ordinarily  separated  in 
a  theological  system,  and  I  have  put  them  together  in 
order  to  show  conclusively  that  our  author,  in  spite  of 
peculiar  views  with  regard  to  the  method  and  the  ap- 
plication of  the  atonement,  cherished  such  conceptions 
as  logically  necessitated  the  deity  and  the  propitiatory 
sacrifice  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But  before  de- 
scribing his  opinions  on  these  later  points,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  go  back  to  his  view  of  creation,  preserva- 
tion, and  providence.  Here  we  have  another  illustra- 
tion of  his  refusal  to  dogmatize  where  he  regarded 
Scripture  as  teaching  nothing  decisive,  and  of  his 
earnest  effort  to  reach  reality  beneath  the  forms  of 
traditional  statement.  To  his  mind  it  was  an  open 
question  whether  the  Scriptures  teach  the  absolute 
origination  of  matter.  The  Hebrew  word  hara  did  not 
seem  to  him  to  settle  the  question.    Yet  he  recognized 


74  MISCELLANIES 

ill  the  organic  forms  of  matter  the  embodied  thought 
of  a  creative  Will.  "  Even  spontaneous  generation  does 
not  preclude  the  idea  of  such  a  creative  Will,  work- 
ing by  natural  law  and  secondary  causes.  Of  begin- 
nings of  life,  physical  science  knows  nothing.  Of  the 
processes  of  nature  it  is  competent  to  speak,  and 
against  its  teachings  there  is  no  need  that  theology 
should  set  itself  in  hostility." 

I  do  not  know  how  much  of  an  attraction  the  ideal- 
istic interpretation  of  the  universe  had  for  Doctor 
Robinson.  The  mention  of  secondary  causes  above, 
and  his  declaration  in  another  place  that  space  must 
have  existed  before  the  universe,  would  seem  to  show 
that  he  sought  no  relief  from  the  problem  of  creation 
in  the  thought  that  matter,  as  ideal,  may  also  be  eter- 
nal. But,  in  treating  of  preservation  and  providence, 
he  seems  to  verge  toward  the  idealistic  explanation. 
Though  he  denies  that  law  is  simply  uniform  divine 
action,  he  also  denies  the  so-called  concursus  of  God 
with  finite  causes.  Though  he  declares  that  "  God's 
relation  to  the  material  universe  is  unknown  and  un- 
knowable," he  also  declares  that  "  matter  and  physical 
force  are  indissolubly  one,"  that  "  all  forces  are  modes 
of  one  force,"  and  that  "  this  force  is  personal  force." 
"  The  natural  is  God's  work.  He  originated  it.  There 
is  no  separateness  between  the  natural  and  the  super- 
natural. The  natural  is  supernatural.  God  works  in 
everything.  Every  end,  even  though  attained  by  me- 
chanical means,  is  as  truly  God's  end  as  if  wrought  by 
miracle."  Here  the  more  modern  conception  of  the 
universe  seems  to  be  working  in  Doctor  Robinson's 
mind,  and  to  be  coloring  his  thought.     His  readiness 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  75 

to  recognize  the  working  of  God  both  in  nature  and  in 
man,  and  his  unreadiness  to  postulate  a  Dciis  ex 
inachina  where  the  "  Spirit  within  the  wheels  "  would 
account  for  all  the  facts,  seem  like  an  unconscious  an- 
ticipation of  the  thought  of  God's  immanence,  which 
is  so  transforming  the  theology  of  our  generation. 

The  definition  of  miracle  as  a  "  special  sign  from 
God,  authenticating  the  claim  of  one  of  his  messen- 
gers," is  confessedly  intended  to  exclude  all  dog- 
matizing with  regard  to  the  relation  of  the  miracle 
to  natural  law  and  to  second  causes.  If  the  signality 
of  the  miracle  be  maintained,  then  it  matters  not,  even 
if  natural  law  itself  be  the  perpetual  working  of  God. 
Mere  outward  wonder  cannot  certify  to  a  divine  com- 
mission, unless  the  teaching  and  the  life  of  the  worker 
commend  themselves  to  the  moral  consciousness.  The 
resurrection  of  our  Lord,  as  a  witness  to  Christianity, 
depends  as  much  on  the  existence  of  the  church,  as  the 
church  rests  for  its  foundation  upon  the  resurrection 
of  our  Lord.  The  living  church  is  the  burning  bush 
that  is  not  consumed.  The  church  has  the  word 
"  resurrection  "  written  all  over  it.  Its  very  exist- 
ence is  proof  of  the  resurrection.  Twelve  men  could 
never  have  founded  the  church  if  Christ  had  remained 
in  the  tomb.  Doctor  Robinson  would  defend  miracles, 
then,  but  he  would  not  rest  the  whole  weight  of  Chris- 
tianity upon  them.  "  No  amount  of  miracle  could 
convince  a  good  man  of  the  divine  commission  of  a 
known  bad  man ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  could  any 
degree  of  miraculous  power  suffice  to  silence  the  doubts 
of  an  evil-minded  man."  "  The  miracle  is  a  certifica- 
tion only  to  him  who  can  perceive  its  significancy." 


76  MISCELLANIES 

As  miracle  involves  no  violation  or  suspension  of 
natural  law,  so  the  ordinary  providential  government 
of  God  is  conducted  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  full 
range  to  human  freedom.  Man's  will  as  well  as  God's 
will  can  effect  results  without  producing  any  jar  in 
the  system.  I  could  wish  that,  in  his  treatment  of  the 
will,  Doctor  Robinson  had  more  definitely  set  himself 
against  determinism.  He  seems  rather  to  intimate 
that  Jonathan  Edwards'  argument  has  never  been 
satisfactorily  answered.  The  highest  conceivable  free- 
dom, he  says,  is  to  act  out  one's  nature.  The  will  is 
the  nature  in  movement.  Will  is  self-determining,  in- 
deed; but  this  means,  not  that  the  will  determines  the 
self,  but  that  the  self  determines  the  will.  Observa- 
tion and  logic  lead  to  necessitarianism.  We  have  no 
consciousness  of  a  power  of  contrary  choice,  for  con- 
sciousness testifies  only  to  what  springs  out  of  the 
moral  nature,  not  to  what  the  moral  nature  itself  is. 
Yet  consciousness  testifies,  in  some  sense,  to  freedom. 
Single  volitions  are  often  directly  in  the  face  of  the 
current  of  a  man's  life.  The  will  cannot  be  compelled  ; 
for,  unless  self-determined,  it  is  no  longer  will.  The 
consciousness  of  freedom  must  be  trusted,  even  though 
we  cannot  reconcile  it  with  our  logic.  So  Doctor  Robin- 
son does  not  decide  the  philosophical  question,  though 
it  is  plain  that  his  leanings  are  toward  determinism. 
He  declares  that  the  will  is  as  great  a  mystery  as  is 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  As  we  do  not  know  the 
nature  of  the  human  will,  so  we  do  not  know  the  con- 
nection between  human  volitions  and  the  divine  will. 
But  we  do  know,  he  says — and  this  I  regard  as  a  most 
valuable  and  reassuring  statement — we  do  know  that 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  ^J 

■'  the  absolute  certainty  of  events,  which  is  all  that 
Omniscience  determines  with  regard  to  them,  is  not 
identical   with   their  necessitation." 

So  the  doctrine  of  Providence  is  connected  with  the 
doctrine  of  Decrees.  ''  To  the  omniscient  Mind,  in 
which  there  is  no  succession,  no  events  are  contingent. 
Causes,  with  their  conditions  and  effects,  are  alike  and 
always  known  as  indissolubly  one.  God's  knowledge 
and  purposes  both  being  eternal,  one  cannot  be  con- 
ceived as  the  ground  of  the  other,  nor  can  either  be 
predicted  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other  as  the  cause 
of  things;  but,  correlative  and  eternal,  they  must  be 
co-equal  quantities  in  thought."  It  might  possibly 
occur  to  an  objector  to  say  that  when  God  knows  what 
he  will  do,  his  willing  is  the  ground  of  his  knowing, 
instead  of  his  knowing  being  the  ground  of  his  willing. 
This  is  practically  granted  in  other  parts  of  the  sys- 
tem, as,  for  example,  where  it  is  suggested  that  an- 
swers to  prayer  are  consistent  with  the  immutability 
of  natural  law,  because  the  immutability  of  natural  law 
has  its  only  explanation  and  ground  in  the  decrees  of 
God;  or  where,  under  the  head  of  Calling  and  Elec- 
tion, he  declares  that  "  in  becoming  Christians,  men 
are  moved,  controlled,  and  transformed  by  a  power 
of  Will  superior  to  their  own,  and  that  in  transforming 
them  the  divine  Will  simply  executes  its  eternal  pur- 
pose." He  justly  prefers  the  scriptural  doctrine  to 
that  of  the  Positivists,  who  "  disdain  decree,  but  con- 
sign us  to  the  iron  necessity  of  physical  forces,"  and 
to  that  of  Pelagians  or  Arminians,  whose  system  is 
"  necessarily  one-sided,  and  ministers  ruinously  to  the 
pride  of  man." 


^8  MISCELLANIES 

But  we  must  hasten  to  Doctor  Robinson's  anthro- 
pology. Here  he  diverged  from  the  traditional  view 
of  man's  original  state,  by  teaching  that  the  image  of 
God  in  the  first  man  did  not  imply  moral  perfection, 
but  only  the  possession  of  those  higher  powers  which 
distinguish  man  from  the  brute.  "  Christ,"  he  says, 
"  proposes  to  carry  forward  human  nature  to  a  higher 
point,  not  simply  to  restore  what  was  lost."  The 
phrase  "  very  good,"  which  is  used  to  describe  man's 
first  condition,  "  does  not  imply  moral  perfection." 
Such  perfection  cannot  be  the  result  of  creation,  but 
must  be  attained  through  discipline  and  will.  Man's 
original  state  was  only  one  of  untried  innocence.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  the  old  orthodoxy,  which  Doctor 
Robinson  was  here  opposing,  unduly  magnified  the 
powers  and  virtues  of  the  first  father  of  our  race. 
When  Doctor  South  declared  that  "  Aristotle  was  but 
the  rubbish  of  an  Adam,"  he  went  far  beyond  Scrip- 
ture. But  it  seems  to  me  that  Doctor  Robinson  went 
to  quite  the  opposite  extreme  when  he  made  the  image 
of  God  consist  in  mere  personality,  and  denied  to  the 
first  man  any,  even  a  germinal,  holiness  of  character. 
If,  when  God  newly  creates  the  soul  in  Christ,  he 
gives  a  germinal  "  righteousness  and  holiness  of  truth," 
then  in  the  original  creation  he  could  also  impart  a 
tendency  toward  the  good  and  a  love  for  himself.  To 
deny  this  is  to  imply  the  whole  Roman  Catholic  doc- 
trine that  man,  being  created  destitute  of  moral  char- 
acter, attains  to  holiness  and  earns  God's  favor  by  his 
own  obedience. 

There  are  two  reasons,  however,  why  I  must  decline 
to  attribute  this  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  to  Doctor 


THE   THEOLOGY   OF   ROBINSON  79 

Robinson,  and  must  regard  him  as  protesting  against 
an  ultra-Protestant  exaggeration  of  man's  original 
excellence  rather  than  against  the  substance  of  the 
Protestant  view.  One  reason  is  that  he  grants  man's 
possession,  by  creation,  of  "  right  spontaneities  "  or 
"  a  constitutional  predisposition  toward  a  course  of 
right  conduct  ";  and  the  other  is  that,  in  his  own  doc- 
trine of  regeneration,  he  so  freely  concedes  that  the 
original  impulse  and  love  of  righteousness  must  come 
from  God.  So  he  appears  to  grant  to  the  first  man 
right  tendencies,  but  to  deny  to  the  first  man  right 
character.  At  the  same  time,  I  could  wish  for  a 
stronger  afiirmation  than  he  has  given  us  of  man's 
original  moral  likeness  to  God.  He  describes  him  as 
"  immature  and  untried  at  the  outset,  and  consequently, 
at  the  best,  only  sinless."  "  His  civil  and  social  con- 
dition must  have  been  of  the  humblest,"  he  says.  "  But 
on  the  other  hand,  the  supposition  of  an  original  sav- 
age condition,  but  little  if  any  removed  from  the  level 
of  the  more  intelligent  brutes,  is  a  mere  conjecture, 
unsupported  by  any  decisive  evidence,  besides  being 
wholly  contrary  to  the  Scriptures."  One  may  ques- 
tion, however,  whether  the  scriptural  argument  against 
man's  descent  from  the  brute  would  have  seemed  to 
him  so  conclusive,  if  this  chapter  had  been  written  a 
quarter  of  a  century  later,  when  the  Darwinian  theory 
is  so  generally  accepted,  and  when  evolution  is  regarded 
by  so  many  theologians  as  the  method  of  creation 
pursued  by  the  immanent  God. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  whatever  view  is  taken  of  man's 
original  state  must  profoundly  affect  one's  view  of 
man's  fall.     Doctor  Robinson  did  not  grant  to  man  at 


8o  MISCELLANIES 

the  beginning"  any  great  height  of  virtue,  even  if  he 
could  be  said  to  have  virtue  at  all.  But  man  was  sin- 
less; his  state  was  one  of  innocence;  he  was  "en- 
dowed with  free  will  ";  he  "  could  have  resisted  temp- 
tation and  could  have  moved  ever  onward  in  normal 
development.  Uninfluenced  from  without,  he  might, 
or  rather,  so  far  as  any  analysis  of  his  actions  for 
us  is  possible,  he  must,  have  remained  an  un fallen  be- 
ing." And  our  author  goes  on  most  admirably  to 
say :  "  How,  even  under  temptation,  he  could  have  so 
willed  against  his  nature  as  by  volition  to  have  changed 
the  nature  itself,  is  absolutely  inconceivable.  But  that 
he  was  capable  of  such  volition,  and  by  its  exercise 
fell  from  his  original  sinlessness,  is  plainly  taught  in 
the  Scriptures,  and  the  reproaches  of  the  individual 
conscience  for  personal  obliquities,  even  amid  the  dark- 
ness and  ruin  of  the  fall,  seem  to  be  conclusive  evi- 
dence of  the  same  great  fact."  So  Doctor  Robinson 
transferred  the  whole  blame  of  sin  from  God  to  man. 
And  not  only  to  the  first  man,  but  to  all  men ;  for 
"  whatever  beffell  the  progenitors  of  the  race,  their  de- 
scendants have  inherited.  By  the  fall  there  was  lost 
an  original  righteousness  " — here  I  call  attention  to 
the  fact  that  our  author  had  not  entirely  given  up  the 
idea  of  some  positive  tendencies  to  good  in  our  first 
parents — "  by  the  fall  there  was  lost  an  original  right- 
eousness, which,  but  for  its  loss,  would  have  been  the 
birthright  of  every  one  of  the  race,  and  in  its  stead 
there  were  incurred  certain  positive  evils  which  to 
every  one  have  been  a  heritage  of  woe." 

Doctor  Robinson's  doctrine  of  original  sin  cannot  be 
understood  without  remembering  that  all  lack  of  con- 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  8 1 

foriiiity  to  God  is  sin,  and  that  no  proper  distinction 
can  be  drawn  between  penalty  and  consequences. 
"  The  distinction  between  penalty  and  consequences," 
he  says,  "  between  guilt  and  liability,  so  much  insisted 
on  in  modern  theology,  can  be  maintained  only  by 
limiting  our  knowledge  of  moral  law  to  the  mere 
statutes  of  the  Bible;  by  restricting  human  guilt  to 
the  violation  of  those  statutes;  and  by  so  distinguish- 
ing between  Nature  and  Revelation  as  most  unwar- 
rantably to  separate  them.  But  if  God  be  the  author 
of  the  constitution  and  course  of  Nature,  if  the  office 
of  the  formal  revelation  of  the  Bible  be  to  supplement 
and  to  supplant  the  earlier  revelation  of  Nature,  then 
all  painful  consequences  of  wrong  acts  must  be  as 
distinctly  penal  as  if  they  had  been  formally  threat- 
ened." Thus  light  is  thrown  back  upon  holiness,  law, 
and  sin  :  these  are  regarded  as  constitutional,  not  as 
matters  of  outward  expediency  or  enactment.  As  all 
men,  in  consequence  of  the  fall,  lack  the  holiness  which 
the  law  requires,  they  are  sinners;  as  this  lack  is  the 
fault  of  their  common  humanity,  they  are  guilty ; 
as  it  brings  upon  them  pain  and  loss,  they  are  under 
penalty  and  condemnation. 

A  definition  of  sin  which  covers  all  the  facts  of  the 
case  has  always  been  a  great  desideratum.  To  say 
that  sin  consists  in  sinning  is  to  confine  attention  to 
its  most  superficial  aspect,  while  its  deadly  force  is  alto- 
gether ignored.  Doctor  Robinson  has  probably  given 
us  the  most  comprehensive  and  exact  definition  of 
sin  that  can  be  found  in  theological  literature — namely, 
"As  an  act,  sin  is  a  transgression  of  God's  law;  as 
a   principle   that   determines   the   guilt   of   acts,   it   is 

F 


82  MISCELLANIES 

opposition  or  hostility  to  God;  as  a  state  or  nature, 
it  is  moral  unlikeness  to  God."  He  had  no  difficulty 
in  concluding  that  the  essence  of  sin,  that  in  it  which 
makes  it  to  be  sin,  is  neither  sensuousness  nor  unbelief, 
but  selfishness,  or  an  inordinate  self-love  and  self- 
seeking.  "  A  certain  degree  of  self-love  is  allowable. 
.  .  But  all  love,  to  self  or  others,  is  legitimate  only 
as  it  is  subordinate  to,  and  purified  by,  an  intelligent 
and  all-inclusive  love  to  the  common  Father  of  all. 
All  love  becomes  sinful,  selfish,  idolatrous,  in  pro- 
portion as  its  object  is  isolated  from  God.  .  .  Unselfish- 
ness is  the  soul  of  virtue,  and  selfishness  is  the  vital- 
izing principle  of  every  vice  and  of  every  variety  of 
sin."  Sin,  then,  in  a  true  sense,  is  itself  death,  since  it 
is  the  soul's  voluntary  withdrawal  from  God,  the  source 
of  life  and  purity.  While  Doctor  Robinson  did  not 
deny  that  physical  death,  or  the  separation  of  the 
soul  from  the  body,  is  a  consequence  of  Adam's  sin, 
he  held  that  spiritual  death,  or  the  separation  of  the 
soul  from  God,  is  sin's  chief  penalty.  With  separa- 
tion of  the  soul  from  God,  moreover,  there  has  en- 
sued a  disintegration  of  man's  own  spiritual  being. 
The  real  freedom  of  the  will,  which  consists  in  the 
harmonious  working  of  all  the  faculties,  has  been  lost, 
and  only  that  formal  freedom  which  is  a  necessary 
condition  of  rational  existence  now  remains. 

As  to  the  common  guilt  of  the  human  race,  Doctor 
Robinson  was  a  believer  in  mediate  imputation.  Since 
his  theology  dealt  primarily  with  conditions  and  not 
with  edicts,  he  grounded  the  condemnation  of  the  race 
not  so  much  upon  a  common  act  of  the  race  in  Adam, 
as  upon  the  more  palpable  fact  of  universal  and  con- 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  83 

CT-enital  depravity.  It  is  only  through  each  man's  de- 
pravity that  we  can  impute  to  him  guilt.  Here,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  our  author  diverged  from  the  teaching 
of  Scripture,  became  inconsistent  w^ith  himself,  and 
adopted  a  principle  which  burdened  him  greatly  when 
he  came  to  explain  Christ's  taking  our  penalty  upon 
him.  Doctor  Robinson  had  granted  that  the  conse- 
quences of  the  first  sin  are  to  Adam's  posterity  pre- 
cisely what  they  were  to  Adam  himself.  But  to  Adam 
they  were  certainly  first  guilt,  and  then  depravity. 
To  Adam's  descendants,  also,  the  consequences  of 
Adam's  sin  came  in  the  same  order.  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards saw  this  when  he  said  :  "  The  sin  of  the  apostasy 
is  not  theirs  merely  because  God  imputes  it  to  them ;  but 
it  is  truly  and  properly  theirs,  and  on  that  ground  God 
imputes  it  to  them."  And  Edwards  is  only  echoing 
Paul,  who  bases  God's  infliction  of  the  penalty  of  death, 
not  upon  the  ground  that  all  are  sinful,  but  upon  the 
ground  that  "  all  sinned."  Since  the  depravity  is  caused 
by  the  apostasy,  we  cannot  be  guilty  of  the  depravity 
without  first  being  guilty  of  the  apostasy. 

Doctor  Robinson  was  a  realist,  but  here,  unfortu- 
nately, he  did  not  consistently  apply  his  realism.  He 
should  have  considered  that  as  Adam's  act  was  con- 
demnable  apart  from  its  consequences,  so  we,  who 
were  one  with  him  in  the  transgression,  have  incurred 
guilt  apart  from  the  depravity  which  is  a  consequence 
of  that  act.  A  failure  to  recognize  this  leads  him  to 
mitigate  the  judgment  which  he  passes  upon  the  de- 
pravity itself.  He  says  it  is  "  condemnable  and  pun- 
ishable, because  it  is  in  a  sense  sinful  and  guilty,"  and 
yet  he  concedes  that  "  the  words  *  sin  '  and  *  guilt,' 


84  MISCELLANIES 

when  applied  to  an  inherited  nature,  must  necessarily 
have  a  restricted  meaning  as  compared  with  that 
which  attaches  to  them  when  applied  to  our  voluntary 
actions.  In  the  consequences  of  all  voluntary  wrong 
acts  there  is  mingled  an  element  of  remorse,  which 
can  never  enter  into  the  penal  consequences  of  a  state 
or  of  a  nature."  When  it  is  objected,  however,  that 
inborn  depravity  cannot  be  sin,  if  conscience  brings  no 
charge  of  guilt  against  it,  he  replies  that,  however 
true  this  may  be  of  the  nature  in  its  passive  state,  it  is 
not  true  when  the  nature  is  roused  to  activity.  Then 
the  "  conscience  traces  guilt  to  its  seat  in  the  inherited 
nature."  But  guilt  of  nature  Doctor  Robinson  does 
not  explain.  How  we  can  be  responsible  for  w'hat 
is  ours  solely  through  the  act  of  our  ancestors,  he  does 
not  tell  us.  His  theology  would  have  been  more  con- 
sistent if  he  had  been  more  thoroughly  realistic  and 
Pauline,  and  had  said  plainly,  ''  In  Adam's  fall  we 
sinned  all."  It  is  unjust  to  hold  us  guilty  of  the  effect 
if  we  are  not  first  guilty  of  the  cause. 

But  in  spite  of  Doctor  Robinson's  unwillingness 
to  press  his  principle  to  its  logical  conclusion,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  he  believed  in  the  organic  unity 
of  the  race,  and  in  its  common  guilt  and  punishable- 
ness.  Even  infants  are  born  with  a  nature  sinful,  de- 
praved, and  condemnable,  though  they  are  in  a  sal- 
vable  condition,  and  if  they  die  in  infancy  they  are 
saved.  In  their  case  the  evil  which  has  been  involun- 
tarily incurred  is  removed  by  a  remedy  which  is  pro- 
vided equally  without  the  volition  of  the  sufferer.  The 
explanation  given  of  the  method  of  their  salvation  is 
significant.     "  To  destroy  the  germ  of  evil  in  the  heart 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  85 

of  an  infant,  it  must,  somewhere  and  somehow,  as 
well  as  children  and  adults,  be  brought  to  a  knowledge 
and  love  of  Christ;  in  order  to  this  knowledge  and 
love,  while  as  yet  the  evil  is  undeveloped  into  habit, 
Christ  needs  only  to  be  seen;  and  if  Christ,  who,  while 
on  earth,  said,  '  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me, 
and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,'  shall  receive  the  little  ones  to  himself  on 
their  entrance  into  another  life,  it  certainly  is  neither 
inconceivable  nor  improbable  that  the  undeveloped 
evil  of  their  nature  should  give  place  at  once  to  an 
implanted  and  all-controlling  love  for  him  whom  to 
know  is  life  eternal."  I  do  not  understand  Doctor 
Robinson  to  be  teaching  here  that,  in  the  infant,  mere 
knowledge  can  eradicate  sin,  or  that  sin  can  be  for- 
given without  atonement.  I  understand  our  author  to 
be  describing  simply  the  method  in  which,  in  the  case 
of  the  infant,  the  atonement  is  applied  and  the  heart 
is  renewed  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

As  I  have  already  intimated.  Doctor  Robinson  was 
a  strong  believer  in  the  absolute  deity  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  But  he  also  believed  in  Christ's  com- 
plete humanity.  His  conception  of  the  relation  be- 
tween the  divine  and  the  human  elements  in  Christ  is 
so  essential  to  his  system  that  we  must  endeavor  to 
grasp  it  precisely.  He  has  the  great  merit  of  being 
one  of  the  first  in  America  to  unfold  the  doctrine  of 
the  Kenosis,  or  self-limitation  of  the  Logos  in  becom- 
ing man.  The  old  orthodoxy  had  made  the  person  of 
Christ  unintelligible  and  incredible  by  maintaining 
our  Lord's  continual  consciousness  of  his  deity  and 
his  continual  use  of  divine  powers.     This  was  either 


86  MISCELLANIES 

Docetism,  a  doctrine  of  merely  illusory  humanity,  or 
Nestorianism,  a  doctrine  virtually  of  two  persons  as 
well  as  of  two  natures.  Our  author  began  his  study 
from  the  oneness  of  Christ's  person.  "  The  personal 
Logos  was  not  so  associated  and  conjoined  with  a 
personal  Jesus  as  to  produce  a  kind  of  double  per- 
sonality;" he  rather  "assumed,  by  supernatural  gen- 
eration, from  the  Virgin  Mary,  a  true  human  nature, 
though  not,  as  distinct  from  himself,  a  human  person- 
ality. .  .  Christ  assumed  human  nature,  but  he  did  not 
assume  a  human  person ;  and  the  two  natures  were  so 
conjoined  as  to  constitute  a  single  personality."  He 
inveighed  against  separating  the  two  natures,  and 
conceiving  that  our  Lord  spoke  at  one  time  as  man 
and  at  another  time  as  God.  He  maintained  that  this 
attributed  unveracity  to  Christ,  and  held  that  our  Lord 
spoke  everywhere  and  always  as  the  God-man,  even 
when  he  declared  that  he  was  ignorant  of  the  day  of 
the  end.  I  regard  this  doctrine  of  the  single  per- 
sonality of  Christ,  and  of  the  divine  self-limitation  in 
becoming  man,  as  one  of  the  noblest  and  most  valuable 
parts  of  his  teaching. 

What  human  nature  did  our  Lord  take  ?  Our  author 
answers  rightly :  "  He  took  the  common  nature  of  the 
race;  not  the  nature  of  the  unfallen  Adam;  nor  yet 
a  new-created  nature,  different  alike  from  Adam's 
and  our  own;  but  the  nature  of  those  whom  he  came 
to  save."  But  our  race  and  nature  were  sinful;  did 
Christ,  then,  in  taking  our  nature,  take  a  sinful  nature, 
as  Edward  Irving  taught?  This  Doctor  Robinson 
denies.  "  Sin,"  he  says,  "  is  properly  predicable  only 
of   personality,    the   hereditary   depravity   of   man    is 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  8/ 

derived  by  the  natural  descent  of  personal  life  from 
Adam;  Christ  did  not  derive  a  personal  human  life 
ex  traduce  from  Adam,  but  took  our  human  nature  by 
a  supernatural  act,  which  cut  off  its  hereditary  guilt, 
though  not  the  hereditary  consequences  of  its  guilt.  .  . 
Hereditary  depravity  was  in  his  case  cut  off  from 
transmission  by  the  supernatural  manner  of  his  as- 
suming it.  .  .  No  truth  is  more  plainly,  continuously, 
and  variously  taught,  than  the  perfect  sinlessness,  the 
unapproachable  moral  perfection,  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and 
sinlessness  was  all  the  more  conspicuous  and  marvelous 
that  it  was  maintained  under  the  load  of  a  fallen 
nature  and  in  the  midst  of  a  sinful  race,  with  whom 
he  had  so  closely  identified  himself.  .  .  Notwithstand- 
ing the  nature  he  had  assumed,  and  the  race  with 
which  he  had  allied  himself,  he  could  preserve  his  sin- 
lessness, because  the  basis  of  his  personality  was  his 
divine  nature  and  not  the  human.  In  becoming  in- 
carnate, he  assumed  human  nature  in  its  complete- 
ness, and  yet  so  assumed  it  as  completely  to  control 
it;  whereas,  in  the  birth  of  individual  men,  human 
nature  simply  assumes  the  form  of  personal  life 
which  it  completely  controls.  Christ  was  conscious  of 
the  infinite  purity  of  his  own  person  because  his  con- 
sciousness was  grounded  in  the  divine  nature  which 
underlay  and  conditioned  his  whole  personal  being." 

These  extracts  from  Doctor  Robinson's  chapter  on 
"  The  Two  Natures  of  Jesus  Christ  "  make  it  very 
plain  that  he  did  not  regard  our  Lord  as  inheriting 
either  depravity  or  guilt.  And  yet  he  inherits  the 
consequence  of  guilt — that  is,  penalty.  This  is  our 
author's  doctrine  of  the  atonement.     He  insists  that 


88  MISCELLANIES 

the  necessity  of  the  atonement  is  grounded  in  the  holi- 
ness of  God.  "  God,  as  holy,  necessarily  repels  all 
sinners  from  his  presence,  and  by  the  very  act  of  re- 
pulsion punishes  them.  Whoever,  therefore,  should 
assume  our  nature,  and  take  his  place  among  us  as  one 
of  our  race,  and  take  it  for  the  express  purpose  of  re- 
deeming us  from  sin  and  reconciling  us  to  God,  would 
be  under  the  inexorable  necessity  of  so  confronting  the 
divine  repulsion  as  to  remove  it,  or  he  could  not 
achieve  our  redemption.  .  .  He  must  bear  our  penalty 
and,  in  bearing,  survive  it."  But  in  addition  to  this: 
"  The  substitution  which  takes  place  in  the  interven- 
tion of  Christ  for  the  salvation  of  men  must  be  of  such 
a  nature  as  to  secure  an  actual  personal  righteousness 
on  the  part  of  the  redeemed."  Atonement  then  is, 
on  the  one  hand,  as  respects  God,  an  expiation  of  guilt, 
and  as  respects  man,  a  means  of  reconciliation,  re- 
newal, and  final  salvation. 

In  criticizing  Doctor  Shedd's  theory  that  the  atone- 
ment is  "  an  atonement  ab  intra,  a  self-oblation  on 
the  part  of  Deity  himself,  by  which  to  satisfy  those 
immanent  and  eternal  imperatives  of  the  divine  nature, 
which  without  it  must  find  their  satisfaction  in  the 
punishment  of  the  transgressor,  or  else  be  outraged," 
Doctor  Robinson  objects  that  "  an  atonement  made 
necessary  to  balance  the  character  of  God  could  not 
be  a  gratuity  to  men.  .  .  Literal  forensic  substitution," 
he  says,  "  involves  a  contradiction  of  the  idea  of  abso- 
lute justice  on  which  the  whole  theory  rests.  An 
absolute  justice  in  God,  which  his  mercy  could  satisfy 
or  not,  shuts  us  up  to  the  alternative  either  of  a  one- 
sided nature  in  God,   or  of  an   atonement  which   is 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  ©9 

Stripped  of  every  vestige  of  grace."  He  has  no  patience 
with  the  representation  of  an  "  immutable  justice  which 
is  so  far  mutable  as  to  accept  of  a  commutation  both  of 
persons  and  of  punishments."  We  are  obliged  to  grant 
that,  to  make  Doctor  Shedd's  view  tenable,  another 
principle  of  identification  must  be  introduced  which 
Doctor  Shedd  has  not  mentioned;  only  the  union  of 
all  men  with  Christ  by  creation  can  make  Christ's 
substitution  consistent  with  justice.  Of  this  principle, 
which  neither  Doctor  Robinson  nor  Doctor  Shedd 
has  recognized,  I  shall  speak  hereafter.  I  wish  now 
only  to  say  that  Doctor  Robinson  does  not  seem  fully 
to  apprehend  Doctor  Shedd's  position  in  the  matter  of 
the  relation  of  the  divine  attributes.  The  latter's  concep- 
tion of  justice  does  not  exclude  the  possibility  of  grace, 
since  but  for  grace  Christ  never  would  have  "  otTered 
himself  through  the  eternal  Spirit  without  blemish 
unto  God."  As  Doctor  Shedd  himself  has  said: 
"  Where  then  is  the  mercy  of  God,  in  case  justice  is 
strictly  satisfied  by  a  vicarious  person?  There  is 
mercy  in  permitting  another  person  to  do  for  the 
sinner  what  the  sinner  is  bound  to  do  for  himself; 
and  still  greater  mercy  in  providing  that  person;  and 
greater  still,  in  becoming  that  person." 

But  let  us  define  more  clearly  Doctor  Robinson's 
own  doctrine.  "  Christ  took  our  nature  with  its  ex- 
posures and  penal  liabilities.  He  suffered  the  woes 
which  but  for  him  must  have  come  on  every  member 
of  the  race."  These  woes  are  not  to  be  conceived  as 
positive  and  external  inflictions  by  God,  but  as  the 
natural  consequences  of  his  assumption  of  human  na- 
ture, the  laws  of  nature  being  the  laws  of  God,  and  all 


90  MISCELLANIES 

consequences  being  sanctions  and  penalties.  He  would 
have  had  to  suffer  what  he  did,  even  though  no  one 
was  saved.  So  far,  we  have  something  like  Robert- 
son's view,  that  Christ's  sufferings  were  the  necessary 
result  of  the  position  in  which  he  had  placed  himself 
of  conflict  or  collision  with  the  evil  that  is  in  the 
world;  he  came  in  contact  with  the  whirling  wheel 
and  was  crushed  by  it.  But  Doctor  Robinson  held  to 
a  principle  which  never  entered  into  Robertson's  the- 
ology,— that  the  whirling  wheel  was  not  Satan's  in- 
strument of  torture,  but  God's  enginery  oi  justice. 
"  Christ  bore  his  suft'erings  as  the  true  penal  suffer- 
ings for  sin.  In  bearing  them,  he  triumphed  over  them. 
To  every  one  wdio  has  fellowship  with  him  as  a  suf- 
ferer for  sin,  and  faith  in  him  as  a  personal  Saviour 
from  its  power,  it  is  divinely  given  to  share  in  his 
triumphs.  He  exhausted  and  survived  our  penal  woes ; 
has  so  fulfilled  the  moral  law  and  borne  all  the  penal- 
ties of  the  race,  that  the  believer  finds  his  obligations 
fulfilled,  his  sins  and  their  consequences  taken  away, 
himself  put  upon  a  new  career  of  Christian  living. 
Christ  becomes  our  Saviour,  not  by  imputation,  but 
solely  through  the  control  which  he  exercises  over  us 
when  we  come  to  understand  him  as  the  one  who 
has  borne  all  our  woes,  and  so  borne  them  as  to  make 
full  satisfaction  to  God,  and  to  impart  to  all  who  be- 
lieve an  everlasting  salvation." 

The  subjective  element  so  predominates  here,  both 
in  the  pains  Christ  bears  and  in  the  redemption  the  be- 
liever experiences,  that  we  can  easily  understand  how 
Doctor  Robinson  was  regarded  by  many  as  holding 
to  the  Bushnellian  or  moral-influence  theory  of  the 


Tllli    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  9I 

atonement.  We  must  remember,  however,  that  he  con- 
tinuously and  vigorously  protested  against  that  theory 
in  its  assertions  that  God  is  primarily  love  rather  than 
holiness,  and  that  law  is  essentially  decretive  or  a 
creation  of  will;  while  he  maintained  on  the  contrary 
that  it  was  justice  which  made  the  atonement  neces- 
sary, and  that  the  sufferings  of  Christ  were  an  ex- 
piatory sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the  world.  I  cannot 
harmonize  his  view  of  the  atonement  with  his  view  of 
the  attributes  of  God,  except  by  supposing  that  here 
too.  he  was  dominated  by  his  impulse  to  reality,  and 
that  the  idea  of  the  immanent  God  was  continually 
asserting  itself  in  his  thought.  To  him  there  was  a 
holiness  of  God — which  the  Bushnellian  or  moral-in- 
fluence theory  practically  denied;  but  to  him  also  this 
holiness  of  God  expressed  itself  mainly,  if  not  entirely, 
in  the  order  of  nature — which  the  Bushnellian  or  moral- 
influence  theory  tried  to  recognize,  though  it  called 
God  only  love.  This  explanation,  I  am  convinced,  will 
commend  itself  to  us  more  fully  when  we  have  ex- 
amined Doctor  Robinson's  views  of  justification  and 
of  faith,  in  both  of  which  the  subjective  element  is 
given  what  seems  an  overweening  prominence,  yet  in 
both  of  which  it  appears  certain  that  he  intended  to  set 
forth  what  he  regarded  as  the  substance  of  the  old 
objective  theology. 

Granting  that  God's  holiness  expressed  itself  in 
nature,  however,  it  is  still  necessary  to  ask  whether 
Doctor  Robinson  succeeded  in  reconciling  Christ's  suf- 
ferings with  the  orthodox  premises  from  which  he  set 
out.  I  must  be  allowed  to  record  my  doubts.  He  fails 
to  show  that  either  law  or  justice  has  any  claim  upon 


92  MISCELLANIES 

Christ.  And  yet  the  foundation  of  the  system  is  the 
hoHness  or  justice  of  God,  and  the  law  as  the  neces- 
sary and  unchangeable  expression  of  God's  nature. 
Justice  simply  renders  to  all  their  due,  and  penalty  is 
but  the  correlative  and  consequence  of  guilt.  We  have 
already  seen,  however,  that  our  own  native  depravity 
is  visited  with  penalty  although  we  have  not  originated 
it,  and  now  we  are  told  that  Christ  was  visited  with 
penalty  though  he  had  neither  depravity  nor  guilt. 
If  both  depravity  and  guilt  were  cut  off  in  his  case  by 
his  supernatural  conception,  how  can  he  justly  suffer? 
Greg,  in  his  "  Creeds  of  Christendom,"  speaks  of  "  the 
strangely  inconsistent  doctrine  that  God  is  so  just  that 
he  could  not  let  sin  go  unpunished,  yet  so  unjust  that 
he  could  punish  it  in  the  person  of  the  innocent.  It  is 
for  orthodox  dialectics,"  he  continues,  "  to  explain 
how  the  divine  justice  can  be  impugned  by  pardoning 
the  guilty,  and  yet  vindicated  by  punishing  the  inno- 
cent." I  do  not  see  that  Doctor  Robinson's  scheme 
at  all  escapes  Greg's  criticism,  or  shows  any  consistent 
method  of  forgiveness.  As,  in  the  case  of  hereditary 
depravity,  God's  procedure  in  charging  upon  us  guilt 
can  be  justified  only  upon  the  scriptural  ground  that 
we  were  seminally  and  organically  one  with  our  first 
father  in  the  transgression ;  so  the  visiting  of  the  penal- 
ties of  the  race  upon  Christ  our  Lord  can  be  justified 
only  upon  the  ground  that  he  too  was  heir  with  us 
to  the  same  guilt  and  condemnation,  even  though  de- 
pravity was  cut  off  by  his  immaculate  conception 
in  the  womb  of  the  Virgin.  And  if  any  ask  how 
thus  becoming  one  of  the  race  can  load  him  with  any- 
thing more  than  his  portion  of  the  common  guilt  of 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  93 

the  fall,  I  answer  that  he  was  "  the  root,"  as  well  as 
"  the  offspring,  of  David,"  and  that  since  all  men,  as 
well  as  all  things,  were  created  and  upheld  by  him, 
there  naturally  and  inevitably  rested  upon  him  who  was 
their  life  the  burden  and  responsibility  of  the  sins  of 
his  members. 

I  think  the  way  to  such  consistent  realism  as  this 
would  have  been  easier  if  Doctor  Robinson  had  been 
able  to  attach  more  importance  to  the  doctrine  of  an 
ontologic  Trinity.  That  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
are  alike  and  equally  God,  he  gladly  acknowledges. 
He  grants  also  that  "  the  terms  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Spirit,  though  derived  from  historical  and  economic 
facts,  do  nevertheless  represent  eternal,  ontological 
distinctions  in  the  Godhead."  But  he  discards  all 
theories  of  the  relations  between  them,  and  contents 
himself  with  saying  that  "  there  is  some  ontologic 
ground  for  these  names,  though  w^e  do  not  know 
what  it  is."  He  rejected  the  idea  of  an  eternal  gen- 
eration, upon  the  ground  that  it  implied  an  eternal 
subordination  and  dependence.  He  laid  stress  upon 
the  fact  that  in  John's  first  chapter  Christ  is  carefully 
styled  Logos  until  he  becomes  incarnate,  and  only  then 
is  called  Son  of  God.  The  general  tendency  of  Doc- 
tor Robinson's  thought  is  to  confine  itself  to  the  his- 
torical manifestations,  and  to  avoid  all  attempts  to 
interpret  the  ante-mundane  mystery  of  the  divine  na- 
ture. We  might  well  follow  his  example,  if  we  did  not 
seem  to  recognize  in  Scripture  an  effort  to  teach  us 
something  with  regard  to  the  pretemporal  relations  of 
the  persons  of  the  Trinity.  Love  and  counsel  are 
certainly  ascribed   to   them,   and  the  term  *'  Logos  " 


94  MISCELLANIES 

indicates  derivation  as  well  as  union.  There  is  a 
"  larger  Christ  "  whom  recent  theology  is  coming  to 
discover,  and  this  "  larger  Christ  "  is  enabling  us  bet- 
ter to  understand  the  work  of  the  Christ  incarnate. 
"  The  Lamb  slain  from  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world  "  enables  us  to  see  in  the  sacrifice  on  Calvary 
the  unfolding  to  human  sight  of  a  pain  for  human 
sin  that  had  been  undergone  ever  since  sin  itself  began, 
in  fact,  ever  since  the  decree  went  forth  to  create  a 
world  of  which  sin  w^as  to  be  an  incident.  Deriva- 
tion does  not  necessarily  imply  beginning  of  existence, 
and  subordination  does  not  necessarily  imply  inequal- 
ity of  nature.  Only  when  we  regard  the  terms  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  as  intimations  of  a  relation  prior 
to  all  time,  do  w'e  know  anything  of  God's  essential 
nature.  Revelation  is  not  revelation  if  it  does  not  tell 
us  something  of  what  God  is  in  himself,  not  simply 
what  he  is  to  us.  The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  assures 
us  that  there  is  both  eternal  Sonship  and  eternal 
Fatherhood  in  God. 

For  the  reason  that  Doctor  Robinson's  view  of  the 
Trinity  was  by  preference  the  historical  and  economic, 
he  does  not  discuss  the  doctrine  in  its  ordinary  place 
immediately  after  his  account  of  the  attributes  of  God, 
but  reserves  his  treatment  of  it  until  he  has  considered 
the  doctrine  of  sin  and  the  person  of  Christ.  The 
method  adopted  seems  to  imply  that  the  Trinity  is  not 
so  much  the  foundation  as  it  is  the  result  of  the  later 
doctrines  of  theology.  As  his  thoughts  of  Christ 
centered  about  the  manifestation  of  our  Lord  in  the 
flesh  rather  than  his  w^ork  and  dignity  as  the  prein- 
carnate  Logos,  so  the  idea  of  the  believer's  spiritual 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  95 

union  with  the  Redeemer  had  no  special  chapter  given 
to  it  in  Doctor  Robinson's  system.  He  did  not  believe 
in  what  is  commonl}-  called  the  mystical  union,  and 
he  regarded  the  parable  of  the  Vine  and  the  Branches 
as  an  Orientalism.  The  real  truth  was  the  intluence 
of  Christ  upon  us.  Our  union  with  Christ  is  a  union 
of  sympathy,  of  gratitude,  of  love.  The  term  "  union," 
like  the  term  "  substitution,"  is  a  figure  of  speech 
which  expresses  the  result  in  us  of  his  work  for  us. 

And  here,  as  I  have  already  criticized  Doctor  Robin- 
son's view  of  the  atonement  in  its  relation  to  God, 
and  have  been  unable  to  find  in  it  any  other  than 
a  metaphorical  execution  of  the  justice  which  the 
atonement  is  supposed  to  satisfy,  so  now,  when  I  come 
to  consider  his  view'  of  the  atonement  in  its  relation 
to  man,  I  am  unable  to  find  in  it  any  other  than  a  meta- 
phorical bearing  of  the  penalty  of  human  sin  on  tlie 
part  of  Christ,  or  any  other  than  a  metaphorical  re- 
demption of  those  who  put  their  trust  in  him.  "  The 
only  sense  in  which  one's  sins  are  laid  on  Christ,"  he 
says,  ''  is  that  one  comes  into  such  relations  to  Christ 
that  he  is  saved  by  him.  .  .  There  is  no  transfer  of 
guilt  or  penalty."  for  "  moral  character  is  not  trans- 
ferable," and  "  the  sense  of  ill-desert  cannot  be  handed 
over  from  one  to  another.  .  .  Christ  bears  our  penalty 
only  in  the  sense  that  faith  in  him  gives  us  a  sense  of 
peace."  Even  this  peace  is  not  the  assurance  that, 
now  that  Christ  has  suffered,  w^e  have  no  penalty  to 
bear.  He  does  not,  by  bearing  penalty,  free  us  from 
the  necessity  of  bearing  it.  He  rather,  by  his  influence 
upon  us,  "  enables  us  to  bear  the  penal  consequences  of 
our  sins,   and  so  to  bear  them,   through  the  saving 


96  MISCELLANIES 

faith  and  the  new  affections  he  awakens  within  us,  that 
we  survive  them  and  escape  from  them  as  he  did."  In 
this  way  "'  penalty  is  so  inflicted  on  the  guihy  [sin- 
ner], in  conjunction  with  his  Dehverer,  as  that  by  its 
infliction  he  shall  be  rescued  from  his  sin."  Salva- 
tion is  "  a  remedial  or  redemptive  process  through 
which  the  effects  of  a  law  violated  are  overborne  and 
Anally  eradicated  by  the  beneficent  working  of  a  new 
law  observed.'' 

Certainly  this  seems  very  much  like  teaching  that 
the  sinner,  with  the  simple  example  and  moral  in- 
fluence of  Christ,  accomplishes  both  his  own  atone- 
ment and  his  own  renewal.  But  since  Doctor  Robinson 
denied  that  he  held  either  the  theory  of  Socinus  or  of 
Bushnell,  I  must  believe  that  in  his  own  mind  there 
was  some  principle  of  reconciliation  which  was  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously  working,  though  it  was  un- 
expressed. In  one  of  his  extemporaneous  detached 
observations  to  his  students  he  once  said :  "  Salvation 
is  the  putting  of  a  reconstructive  principle  into  man's 
nature.  But  the  subjective  change  does  not  come 
from  man,  but  from  God,  through  established 
methods."  Here  is  again  suggested  the  same  pos- 
sible principle  of  explanation  which  has  occurred  to 
us  before.  God  in  Christ  is  immanent  in  humanity. 
If  all  good  in  man  is  the  work  of  Christ,  then  a  seem- 
ingly subjective  theory  of  the  atonement  may  have 
an  objective  side  or  aspect.  What  before  appeared  to 
be  simply  man's  work  is  God's  work,  now  that  we 
see  all  but  sin  to  come  from  God.  Unless  some  such 
principle  be  assumed,  I  find  it  difficult  to  acquit  Doc- 
tor Robinson  of  inconsistency,  and  impossible  to  deny 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  97 

that  the  Old  School  doctrine  with  which  his  theology 
began  evaporated,  as  he  went  on,  in  the  fire  of  criticism. 
I  am  unwilling  to  grant  that  he  was  conscious  of  in- 
consistency. I  prefer  to  say,  therefore,  that,  like 
Jonathan  Edwards,  he  unconsciously  admitted  to  his 
system  ideas  which  he  did  not  himself  work  out  to 
their  logical  conclusions.  Jonathan  Edwards  intended 
to  be  an  Old  School  man,  but  he  unconsciously  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  New  School  theology.  Was  Doctor 
Robinson  in  like  manner  building  better  than  he  knew, 
and  preparing  the  way  for  a  more  modern  theology? 
It  is  evident  that  a  conception  of  salvation  like  this 
necessitates  a  new  definition  of  justification.  Justifica- 
tion has  commonly  been  regarded  as  a  change  of  at- 
titude in  God,  not  a  change  of  moral  character  in  the 
sinner.  God  acquits  the  sinner  from  penalty,  and  he 
restores  the  sinner  to  his  favor,  not  because  the  sinner 
has  become  righteous,  but  solely  because  he  is  now 
joined  to  Christ  by  faith.  Accompanying  this  justi- 
fication, indeed,  and  giving  rise  to  this  faith,  is  the 
regeneration  of  the  soul  by  Christ's  Spirit.  But  Protes- 
tant theologians  of  all  grades  have  felt  it  supremely 
important  to  deny  that  justification  has  in  it  any  sub- 
jective element,  or  that  the  beginning  of  a  holy  charac- 
ter is  included  in  it,  lest  man  should  seem  to  have 
the  credit  of  his  own  salvation  and  grace  become  a 
matter  of  debt.  In  Doctor  Robinson's  system,  how- 
ever, it  was  necessary  that  there  should  be  no  merely 
external  acts  of  God,  no  judicial  decisions  apart  from 
the  beings  upon  whom  they  terminated.  To  him  justi- 
fication that  had  in  it  no  element  of  subjective  renewal 
was  a  mere  legal  fiction.     Hence  he  made  justification 

G 


98  MISCELLANIES 

include  not  only  acquittal  and  restoration  to  favor,  but 
the  implanting  of  a  germ  of  personal  righteousness. 
He  seems  at  times  to  recognize  that  he  is  here  intro- 
ducing into  justification  an  unscriptural  element,  for 
he  sometimes  speaks  of  this  last  as  a  "  concomitant  " 
of  justification.  But  at  other  times  he  declares  boldly 
that  justification  includes  a  moral  change  by  which 
the  justified  becomes  personally  just.  "  Justification 
and  righteousness  are  the  same  thing  from  different 
points  of  view.  Pardon  is  not  a  merely  arbitrary 
declaration  of  forgiveness.  Justification  is  a  trans- 
formation and  a  promotion.  Salvation  introduces  a 
new  law  into  our  sinful  nature  which  annuls  the  law 
of  sin  and  destroys  its  penal  and  destructive  conse- 
quences. Forgiveness  of  sins  must  be  in  itself  a 
gradual  process.  The  penal  consequences  of  a  man's 
sins  are  written  indelibly  on  his  nature,  and  remain 
forever.  When  Christ  said,  *  Thy  sins  are  forgiven 
thee,'  it  was  an  objective  statement  of  a  subjective 
fact, — the  person  was  already  in  a  state  of  living  rela- 
tion to  Christ.  We  are  saved  only  through  the  en- 
forcement of  law  on  every  one  of  us.  Justification 
and  sanctification  are  not  to  be  distinguished  as  chron- 
ologically and  statically  different.  Sanctification  dif- 
fers from  justification  only  in  degree,  and  both  imply 
an  agency  of  God  in  different  stages  of  operation." 
Justification  then  is  not  only  God's  act  for  man,  but 
also  God's  act  in  man.  Our  relation  to  Christ,  which, 
so  far  as  I  can  see,  is  only  an  external  relation  of 
gratitude,  sympathy,  and  love,  imparts  to  us  a  new 
religious  life  and  a  personal  righteousness,  which  to- 
gether make  up  the  idea  of  salvation. 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  99 

I  wish  to  be  more  than  just  to  my  old  teacher,  but  all 
my  reverence  for  him  cannot  blind  me  to  the  fact  that 
in  thus  making-  regeneration  a  part  of  justification, 
and  in  thus  making  the  sinner's  acceptance  with  God 
depend  upon  his  possession  of  some  beginnings  of 
subjective  righteousness,  Doctor  Robinson  made  dan- 
gerous concessions  to  Romanism,  and  paved  the  way 
for  all  manner  of  sacramental  and  High-church 
theories  of  Christianity.  I  am  glad  that  the  doctrine 
of  regeneration,  which  follows  that  of  justification 
in  the  system,  is  so  markedly  able  and  scriptural.  Re- 
generation, he  says,  is  the  cause  of  conversion,  and 
the  latter  follows  the  former.  I  interpret  him  as  mean- 
ing that  there  is  a  logical,  not  a  chronological,  sequence 
here.  In  regeneration  man  is  passive ;  in  conversion, 
active.  Man  cannot  and  will  not  regenerate  himself 
— when  he  tries,  the  result  is  either  Phariseeism  or 
skepticism.  Regeneration  is  ascribed  properly  to  the 
Holy  Spirit ;  but  we  are  also  "  born  again  by  the  word 
of  God."  The  work  of  the  Spirit  is  not  on  the  truth, 
but  on  the  soul ;  for  the  truth  cannot  be  changed,  while 
the  man  can  be.  Regeneration  must  first  become  con- 
version before  it  can  be  tested,  and  the  best  evidences 
that  the  change  has  been  wrought  by  God  are  found  in 
love  for  Christ,  holiness  of  life,  and  Christian  service. 

There  is  much  in  Doctor  Robinson's  view  of  faith 
which  merits  attention  and  approval.  He  describes 
faith,  in  general,  as  an  assent  of  the  understanding 
combined  with  a  consent  of  the  heart.  Saving  faith  is 
a  crediting  of  the  divine  declarations  as  true,  and  a 
confiding  trust  in  Christ  as  a  personal  Redeemer.  He 
distinguishes  saving  faith  from  the  faith  of  miracles, 


100  MISCELLANIES 

which  he  thinks  have  ceased,  not  because  faith  has 
declined,  but  because  the  Holy  Spirit  has  changed  the 
method  of  his  manifestations.  Saving  faith  is  neither 
mere  belief  in  historical  facts,  nor  that  full  and  all-com- 
prehending confidence  which  is  called  assurance.  It  is 
called  saving  faith  because  it  has  for  its  end  the  saving 
of  the  soul.  "  It  is  related  to  justification  as  means  to 
end.  In  dealing  with  the  self-righteous  Jews,  Paul 
urges  simple  trust  in  Jesus.  But  saving  is  more  com- 
prehensive than  justifying;  and,  in  dealing  with  those 
who  love  sin,  we  must  urge  surrender  of  the  will  to 
the  holy  dominion  of  Christ.  We  must  not  leave  out 
the  condition  of  an  amended  life."  While  we  must  not 
confound  faith  with  love,  or  justification  with  sancti- 
fication,  and  while  we  preach  the  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith  without  works,  we  must  still  make  it 
plain  that  a  faith  which  does  not  bring  forth  good 
works  will  never  justify.  I  am  grateful  to  Doctor 
Robinson  for  this  recognition  of  the  element  of  will 
in  saving  faith.  Faith  not  only  sees  Christ,  but  it  ap- 
propriates him.  It  not  Only  takes  Christ,  but  it  gives 
itself;  and  without  this  element  of  surrender  it  has  no 
renewing  efifect.  All  this  is  admirable,  and  I  can 
only  regret  that  it  seems,  in  connection  with  his  doc- 
trine of  justification,  to  intimate  that  the  exercise  of  will 
in  faith,  instead  of  being  simply  the  surrender  of  an 
empty  soul  to  Christ  as  to  one  who  can  fill  it,  is  it- 
self, somehow,  the  germ  of  a  personal  righteousness 
or  the  faint  beginning  of  a  new  obedience  of  our  own 
— which  would  be  only  a  more  subtle  doctrine  of  sal- 
vation by  works.  I  wish,  moreover,  that  this  thought 
of  the  will  in   faith,  as  not  only  seeing,  but  appro- 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  lOI 

priating  the  personal  Saviour,  had  led  Doctor  Robin- 
son to  the  more  spiritual  conception  of  that  union 
with  Christ  of  which  faith  is  the  medium. 

In  treating  of  regeneration  we  have  seen  that  Doctor 
Robinson  regarded  the  change  in  the  heart  of  man 
as  wrought  by  the  Holy  Spirit  through  the  use  of  truth 
as  a  means.  He  regarded  this  uniform  use  of  truth  as 
shutting  out  the  possibility  of  baptismal  regeneration, 
and  as  rendering  infant  baptism  an  absurdity.  Infant 
baptism,  indeed,  he  called  "  a  rag  of  Romanism."  In 
his  doctrine  of  the  church,  therefore,  we  find  our 
author  a  rigorous  Baptist.  Christ  himself,  however, 
founded  a  church  only  proleptically.  In  Matthew  i8 
the  word  ecclesia  is  not  used  technically.  The  organ- 
ization of  the  church  was  the  work  of  the  aposdes 
after  Pentecost,  although  the  germ  of  it  existed  before. 
The  church  was  an  outgrowth  of  the  Jewish  syna- 
gogue, though  its  method  and  economy  are  different. 
It  is  a  mistake  to  regard  it  as  a  continuation  of  the 
temple  with  its  priesthood  and  its  sacrifices.  It  rather 
continues  the  prophetic  office,  and  represents  the  pro- 
gressive as  distinguished  from  the  conservative  ele- 
ment of  Judaism.  The  government  of  the  church  is 
congregational.  Three  persons  may  constitute  a 
church.  Councils  are  only  advisory;  they  have  no 
authority.  The  diocesan  bishop  is  anti-scriptural  and 
anti-Christian. 

The  church  is  organized  to  proclaim  tlie  truth  of 
Christ  and  to  induce  submission  to  Christ,  not  directly 
to  suppress  vice  or  to  regenerate  society.  Its  aims  are 
primarily  religious  and  spiritual,  not  moral  and  social, 
and  it  has  no  right  to  abridge  individual  liberty,  or  to 


102  MISCELLANIES 

tell  its  members  what  they  are  to  eat  and  drink,  what 
societies  they  are  to  join,  or  what  marriages  to  con- 
tract. Doctor  Robinson  regarded  baptism  as  implying 
death  to  sin,  resurrection  to  new  life  in  Christ,  and 
entire  surrender  to  the  authority  of  the  triune  God. 
Since  we  are  baptized  into  the  name  of  the  Father 
and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  enter  nito 
the  same  relation  to  the  Son  that  we  sustain  to  the 
Father,  and  baptism  can  mean  nothing  less  than  the 
assumption  of  supreme  allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ. 
Baptism  is  a  prerequisite  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  and 
no  church  has  the  right  to  celebrate  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per wath  unbaptized  persons.  The  Lord's  Supper  is 
the  sacred  meal  of  the  individual  Christian  society, 
and  only  those  who  are  members  of  the  society  have 
rights  at  the  table.  Each  individual  church,  more- 
over, must  determine  for  itself  w^hat  is  baptism,  and 
any  two  churches  essentially  disagreeing  as  to  what 
baptism  is,  cannot  consistently  commune  with  each 
other.  Yet  no  one  can  more  earnestly  or  constantly 
than  Doctor  Robinson  denounce  the  spirit  of  sectarian- 
ism. While  Christianity  exalts  Christ,  he  w-ould  say, 
the  sectarian  spirit  elevates  the  church  above  Christ. 
He  frequently  used  the  word  "  churchism  "  to  desig- 
nate this  Pharisaic  and  divisive  tendency.  "  There  is 
not  the  least  shadow  of  churchism  in  Christ.  Christ 
did  not  say,  '  Blessed  is  he  who  accepts  the  West- 
minster Confession.'  Churchism  is  a  revamped  and 
whitewashed  Judaism.  It  keeps  up  the  middle  w^all  of 
partition  which  Christ  has  broken  down." 

In  giving  account  of  Doctor  Robinson's  views  of 
faith  and  of  the  church,  I  have  not  the  advantage  of 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  IO3 

his  printed  statements,  and  I  am  dependent  upon  the 
notes  dictated  to  the  last  classes  of  his  students  in 
theology.  These  notes  were  not  revised  by  him,  and  it 
is  probable  that  they  do  not  fully  represent  him.  In 
preparing  them  for  the  press,  he  would  doubtless 
have  explained  and  enlarged  many  points  which  are 
now  very  meagerly  treated.  Yet  the  notes  which  I 
use  were  given  after  twenty  years  of  study  and  of 
teaching,  and  they  probably  contain  the  substantial 
conclusions  to  which  he  would  have  subscribed  at  the 
close  of  his  service  as  instructor  in  the  theological 
seminary.  His  teaching  on  eschatology  is  brief,  but 
it  is  succinct  and  clear.  The  main  thought  of  it  is 
that  the  future  is  not  separated  from  the  present  by 
any  arbitrary  line,  but  that  it  is  the  development  and 
outgrowth  of  that  which  now  is.  ''  Eternal  life  begins 
here,  and  the  second  death  is  but  the  continuance  of 
spiritual  death  in  another  and  a  timeless  state  of  exist- 
ence.*' 

As  to  the  conditions  of  personal  immortality,  our 
author  says,  guardedly,  in  one  place :  "  So  far  as  we 
know,  the  soul  exists  only  in  connection  with  an 
organism,  and  a  personal  being  cannot  communicate 
with  another  except  through  external  manifestation 
or  through  media.  .  .  We  talk  of  disembodied  spirits, 
but  we  do  not  know  that  there  are  any  such  in  the  uni- 
verse." Yet  he  does  not  deny  the  possibility  of  bodiless 
existence  in  the  intermediate  state,  but  says,  rather: 
"  Man  is  not  dependent  for  consciousness  upon  the 
possession  of  a  bodily  organization,  and  therefore  will 
not  find  in  the  dissolution  of  the  body  a  cessation  of 
mental  or  spiritual  existence."     He  believes  that  there 


I04  MISCELLANIES 

is  to  be  a  personal  coming  of  Christ,  and  yet  he  says 
that  Second  Adventism,  probably  including  in  this 
term  the  elements  of  definite  prediction  and  of  pre- 
millennialism  that  so  often  mingle  with  it,  "  stultifies 
the  system  and  scheme  of  Christianity."  He  means 
that  to  depend  for  the  progress  of  the  church  upon 
Christ's  visible  and  literal  return  is  to  discredit  the 
dispensation  and  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which 
Christ  himself  declared  to  be  better  for  the  church 
than  his  own  bodily  presence  would  be. 

The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  is  stated  with  great 
originality  and  suggestiveness.  Here  personality  is 
the  indestructible  principle.  Both  at  man's  first  crea- 
tion and  after  death,  personality  takes  to  itself  a 
material  organization.  It  is  a  divinely  empowered 
second  cause.  This  refutes  materialism  and  annihila- 
tionism  alike.  Materialism  would  make  the  soul  the 
product  of  the  body,  and  with  the  breaking  to  pieces 
of  the  body  the  soul  would  pass  into  nothingness.  But 
while  science  teaches  that  merely  animal  life  is  a 
mechanical  process,  we  cannot  explain  the  facts  ex- 
cept by  supposing  that  this  very  animal  life  is  the  effect 
and  instrument  of  a  personal  power.  This  organific 
power  we  call  the  soul.  The  body  then  reflects  the 
soul.  When  the  process  of  resurrection  begins  we 
do  not  know.  It  may  begin  at  the  moment  when  man 
becomes  a  Christian.  It  may  begin  at  the  moment 
of  death.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  there 
is  to  be  a  future  resurrection  of  the  body.  Yet  we  are 
not  to  regard  the  future  body  as  necessarily  containing 
any  of  the  material  particles  that  constitute  our  present 
physical  organisms.     The  individuality  only,  the  per- 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  IO5 

sonal  identity,  will  be  preserved.  It  is  simply  a  ques- 
tion of  God's  power,  and  God  will  give  to  each  a  body 
such  as  shall  please  him.  When  a  student  asked  Doc- 
tor Robinson  at  this  point :  "  But  if  Christ  arose  with 
identically  the  same  body  that  was  laid  away  in  the 
tomb,  how  can  his  resurrection  be  a  type  of  ours  ?  " 
he  simply  answered :  ''  The  nature  of  Christ's  resur- 
rection body  is  an  open  question." 

The  same  disposition  to  regard  the  beginnings  of 
eternal  life  and  eternal  death  as  manifest  in  this  world 
appears  in  his  doctrine  of  the  judgment.  "  Judg- 
ment," he  says,  "  begins  here.  The  searing  of  con- 
science in  this  life  is  a  penal  infliction.  There  is  no 
day  of  judgment  or  of  resurrection  all  at  one  time. 
Judgment  is  an  eternal  process.  Man  is  being  judged 
every  day.  Every  man  honest  with  himself  knows 
where  he  is  going  to."  I  do  not  understand  Doctor 
Robinson  here  to  deny  that  there  is  to  be  a  culmina- 
tion of  the  judicial  process  at  some  definite  time  in  the 
future.  I  understand  him  only  to  deny  that  divine 
judgment  is  confined  to  the  future,  or  that  the  word 
day  is  to  be  taken  in  its  literal  and  limited  sense.  And 
so  with  the  doctrine  of  heaven  and  hell.  "  Heaven  is 
not  to  be  compared  to  a  grasshopper  on  a  shingle, 
floating  down  stream.  .  .  Heaven  is  a  place  where 
men  are  taken  up  as  they  are  when  they  leave  this 
world,  and  where  they  are  carried  forward.  There 
is  no  intimation  of  that  sudden  transformation  at  the 
hour  of  dissolution  which  is  commonly  supposed.  No 
sinners  can  go  there,  but  men  may  enter  there  who  still 
possess  defects  [in  the  sense  of  incompletenesses]  of 
character  "   [and  in  the  other  world  these  defects  or 


I06  MISCELLANIES 

incompletenesses  may  be  gradually  removed].  If  this 
is  all  that  Doctor  Briggs  has  meant  by  his  phrase, 
"  sanctification  after  death,"  we  may  concede  its  truth 
and  regard  him  as  advocating  only  what  Doctor 
Robinson  had  advocated  before  him. 

The  same  principles  are  applied  to  the  doctrine  of 
eternal  punishment.  The  actual  existence  of  sin  and 
death  in  this  world  argues  the  possibility  of  the  con- 
tinued existence  of  sin  and  death  hereafter.  Punish- 
ment begins  in  this  life,  and  is  carried  on  in  the  next. 
Doctor  Robinson  does  not  deny  that  there  are  positive 
punishments  in  the  world  to  come,  though  he  regards 
punishment  as  essentially  subjective,  the  reaction  of 
natural  law  and  not  the  infliction  of  arbitrary  will. 
There  does  not  need  to  be  any  whipping-post  set  up 
in  the  universe,  in  order  to  justify  every  word  of 
Scripture  threatening.  It  is  better  for  us  not  to  con- 
ceive of  punishment  as  objective  judicial  infliction,  but 
to  remember,  rather,  that  wherever  sin  occurs,  there, 
by  natural  law,  penalty  is  inevitable.  "  We  have  no 
right  to  say  that  there  are  no  other  consequences 
of  sin  but  natural  ones,"  but  rather  to  say  that  "  the 
eternal  law  of  wrong-doing  is  that  the  wrong-doer 
is  cursed  thereby,  and  that  harpies  and  furies  follow 
him  into  eternity.  .  .  The  fundamental  argument  for 
eternal  punishment  is  the  reproductive  power  of  evil, 
the  reactionary  power  of  a  wrong  elective  prefer- 
ence, the  reduplicating  energy  of  sin.  .  .  Penalty  in  the 
divine  law  enforces  itself.  We  shall  never  be  as  com- 
plete as  if  we  had  never  sinned.  We  shall  bear  the 
scars  of  our  sins  forever."  As  penalty  is  not  reforma- 
tory, and  as  the  will  may  become  obdurate  in  evil, 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  10/ 

there  is  no  reason  why  the  sufferings  of  the  finally  im- 
penitent may  not  be  eternal.  Neither  the  justice  nor 
the  benevolence  of  God  is  impugned  by  visiting  eternal 
sin  with  eternal  punishment. 

As  I  close  this  account  of  the  theology  of  a  great 
teacher  and  a  great  man,  I  find  myself  impressed  anew 
with  the  boldness  and  independence  of  his  views,  and 
also  with  the  fact  that  he  represented  consciously  or 
unconsciously  a  great  movement  of  human  thought,  a 
movement  of  wiiich  Schleiermacher  was  the  great  pre- 
cursor, and  of  which  the  Ritschlian  School  in  Germany 
and  the  New  Theology  in  this  country  are  later  types 
and  manifestations.  Twenty-five  years  ago  Doctor 
Robinson  probably  taught  in  the  Rochester  The- 
ological Seminary  a  more  modern  system  than  was  at 
that  time  taught  in  any  other  evangelical  seminary  of 
any  denomination  whatever.  His  students  can  never 
blame  him  for  not  being  abreast  of  his  time,  for  he  was 
greatly  ahead  of  his  time.  In  his  love  for  reality  and 
his  determination  to  rid  theology  of  its  ancient  in- 
cubus of  legal  fictions,  he  rendered  invaluable  service 
to  every  student  wdio  came  under  his  influence.  He 
had  a  large  and  free  conception  of  inspiration,  yet  he 
considered  the  Scriptures  as  authoritative,  and  from 
philosophy  to  Scripture  as  a  whole,  he  was  accustomed 
continually  to  appeal.  The  fundamental  principles  of 
his  system  with  regard  to  holiness,  law,  and  sin  were 
so  pow^erfully  taught  that  even  what  seem  to  be  his 
own  aberrations  from  them  failed  to  carry  his  students 
with  him ;  the  nails  had  been  fastened  in  so  sure  a  place 
that  he  himself  was  not  afterward  able  to  pull  them 
out.     A  philosophy  of  relativity  involved  him  in  some 


I08  MISCELLANIES 

ambiguities  and  inconsistencies.  We  are  obliged  to 
dissent  from  some  of  the  latter  doctrines  of  his  scheme, 
or  to  confess  that  we  cannot  understand  them.  But 
even  here  it  is  possible  that  his  views  may  be  inter- 
preted in  the  light  of  God's  immanence  in  nature  and 
in  man,  and  be  found  to  have  in  them  less  of  paradox 
and  more  of  truth  than  some  of  his  critics  have 
imagined. 

He  was  himself  a  man  of  tolerant  mind,  and  while 
he  claimed  the  right  to  think  for  himself,  he  granted 
the  same  right  to  others.  He  was  a  genuine  Baptist, 
in  that  he  believed  in  soul-liberty,  and  he  never  thought 
the  true  interests  of  the  Church  of  Christ  could  be 
subserved  by  withholding  from  any  of  its  members 
the  right  of  private  judgment.  His  soul  was  stirred 
as  by  the  sound  of  a  trumpet  whenever  it  w^as  pro- 
posed to  cast  out  of  our  ecclesiastical  or  Christian  fel- 
lowship those  who  differed  from  us  only  in  matters 
doubtful  or  unimportant.  And  so  I  give  to  him,  what 
he  freely  gave  to  others — the  recognition  of  his  lofti- 
ness of  mind,  of  his  sincerity,  of  his  eagerness  to  know 
the  truth,  of  his  bold  advocacy  of  what  he  believed, 
even  in  the  face  and  teeth  of  opposition.  He  has 
raised  up  a  generation  of  thinkers  and  preachers  who 
believe  in  manliness  in  the  ministry.  He  has  left  be- 
hind him  a  body  of  divinity  as  stimulating  and  sug- 
gestive as  any  that  had  been  written  in  America  since 
Jonathan  Edwards'  day,  and  fully  worthy  to  be 
classed  with  the  works  of  Charles  Hodge  and  of 
Henry  B.  Smith.  All  of  his  opinions  are  worthy  of 
study,  and  many  of  them  may  yet  prove  the  germs  of 
progress  in  theology.    May  we  who  succeed  him  have. 


THE    THEOLOGY    OF    ROBINSON  lOQ 

something  of  his  spirit,  follow  him  where  he  followed 
Christ,  improve  upon  his  teaching  where  we  can,  do 
honest  and  independent  work,  as  he  did,  in  the  build- 
ing up  of  the  fair  and  symmetrical  structure  of  Chris- 
tian truth!  He  was  one  who  lived  in  and  for  his 
pupils;  he  cast  his  bread  upon  the  waters,  expecting 
that  it  would  return  to  him  only  after  many  days;  he 
did  the  sowing,  and  it  has  been  ours  to  reap  the  fruit 
of  his  labors.  God  grant  that  we  may  all  attain  unto 
the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
Son  of  God,  and  may  enter  at  last,  as  he  has  done,  into 
the  presence  of  the  great  Teacher,  where  he  who  sowed 
and  they  who  reaped  shall  rejoice  together! 


XXVII 
DEGENERATION ' 

The  past  half-century  has  been  distinguished  by  the 
apparent  triumph  of  the  doctrine  of  evokition.  The 
most  conservative  are  now  wilHng  to  grant  that  the 
present  is  built  upon  the  past,  and  is  in  some  sense  a 
development  from  that  past.  The  only  controversy 
now  is  between  those  who  interpret  evolution  as  a 
blind  movement  and  those  who  interpret  it  as  a  move- 
ment of  intelligence.  Charles  Darwin  acknowledged 
that  natural  selection  could  not  account  either  for 
origins  or  for  progress.  It  explains  the  survival  of  the 
fittest,  but  not  the  arrival  of  the  fittest.  It  can  give 
no  guarantee  that  the  lower  shall  be  followed  by  the 
higher;  on  the  other  hand,  the  lower  may  still  deteri- 
orate and  may  even  become  extinct — in  fact,  deteriora- 
tion or  extinction  has  been  the  fate  of  nine-tenths  of 
the  species  of  the  past. 

Progress  requires  something  more  than  adaptation 
to  environment.  Increase  of  brute  force  may  adapt 
a  species  to  its  environment,  while  this  increase  only 
operates  to  degrade,  if  we  measure  the  result  by  any 
intellectual  or  moral  standard.  We  can  never  know 
what  is  the  fittest,  whether  brute  force  or  mental  gifts, 
until  we  judge  evolution  in  its  relation  to  man.  Be- 
cause man  is  the  most  complex  object  in  the  universe, 

^An  essay  read  before  the  Alpha  Chi  Club,  December  12,   1907. 
IIO 


DEGENERATION  III 

we  estimate  all  the  lower  orders  by  the  greater  or  less 
complexity  of  their  organization.  Increasing  differen- 
tiation of  function  is  one  great  mark  of  progress,  only 
because  it  brings  life  nearer  to  its  culmination  in  man. 
Atrophy  of  organs  marks  degeneration,  unless  it  is  ac- 
companied by  advancing  intelligence.  But  this  is  only 
to  say  that  progressive  evolution  cannot  be  blind. 
Evolution  is  only  a  method.  If  it  is  to  lead  to  useful 
ends,  it  must  be  the  method  of  a  wise  and  designing 
mind.  An  unteleological  evolution  is  an  irrational 
process,  even  if  it  is  not  a  contradiction  in  terms. 

When  we  consider  the  evolution  of  man,  we  need 
to  remember  that  he  is  not  a  mere  compound  of  me- 
chanical forces,  but  is  an  agent,  capable  of  resisting  and 
thwarting  the  benevolent  design  with  which  he  has 
been  created.  Man's  history  has  not  been  one  of  uni- 
formly upward  progress.  The  privilege  of  going  down 
to  hell  is  not  confined  to  the  lower  orders  of  creation. 
Man  too  has  had  his  periods  of  retrogression  and 
decay.  Man  is  the  only  animal  that  fails  to  realize  the 
end  of  its  being,  and  this  for  the  reason  that  he  has  the 
highest  endowment  of  all — the  endowment  of  free  will. 
Ignoring  this  fact  of  man's  constitution,  anthropolo- 
gists have  too  often  regarded  the  most  brutal  condi- 
tions as  indicative  of  man's  original  state,  whereas  they 
should  be  regarded  as  evidences  of  degeneration.  My 
aim  at  present  is  to  show  that  this  latter  explanation  is 
not  only  scientifically  possible,  but  that  the  facts  render 
it  much  the  more  probable.  I  claim  that,  while  pro- 
gressive evolution  is  the  method  of  an  immanent  divine 
will,  there  is  an  incidental  retrogressive  evolution  which 
profoundly   modifies    the    former,   and    which    results 


112  MISCELLANIES 

from  a  perverse  human  will.  Civilization  advances  in 
spite  of  opposition ;  the  stream  has  many  a  backset,  tem- 
porary though  the  backset  may  be;  degeneration  is 
as  plain  as  is  progress ;  man  mars  God's  work,  even 
though  God  overrules  the  evil  for  good. 

Those  who  hold  to  an  unteleological  evolution,  by 
which  I  mean  an  evolution  in  which  progress  is  an 
accident  and  not  the  result  of  design,  are  inclined  to 
deny  that  brutal  conditions  among  mankind  are  evi- 
dence of  degeneration  from  an  earlier  and  better  state. 
They  hold,  on  the  contrary,  to  an  originally  savage 
condition  of  mankind,  and  to  a  continuous  upward 
progress  since  that  time.  In  order  to  estimate  their 
theory  at  its  proper  value,  it  is  necessary  sharply  to 
distinguish  between  savagery  and  mere  childhood. 
The  biblical  account  of  man's  first  state  represents  him 
as  a  child,  but  it  never  represents  him  as  a  savage.  He 
is  without  clothing,  but  up  to  the  time  of  his  transgres- 
sion he  is  without  fear.  He  is  lord  of  nature  and 
keeper  of  the  garden.  He  names  the  lower  animals 
and  has  them  in  subjection,  even  though  he  is  still  igno- 
rant of  the  metals  and  has  no  instrument  of  music. 
He  has  a  moral  sense  which  can  be  appealed  to,  and 
he  enjoys  at  least  occasional  intercourse  with  his 
Maker.  He  is  undeveloped,  but  he  has  right  intuitions 
and  inclinations,  and  he  is  free  to  choose  between  good 
and  evil. 

What  now  is  savagery?  A  distinguished  citizen  of 
Rochester,  Mr.  Lewis  H.  Morgan,  has  given  us  the 
most  definite  and  exhaustive  answer.  He  divided 
human  progress  into  three  gre?t  periods — the  savage, 
the  barbarian,   and   the  civilized.      Each  of   the   two 


DEGENERATION  1 13 

former  periods  has  three  states.  The  savage  period 
has  a  lowest  state,  marked  by  the  attainment  of  speech 
and  by  subsistence  upon  roots ;  a  middle  state,  marked 
by  fish-food  and  fire;  an  upper  state,  marked  by  the 
use  of  the  bow  and  by  hunting.  The  barbarian  period, 
in  like  manner,  has  a  lower  state,  marked  by  the  in- 
vention and  use  of  pottery;  a  middle  state,  marked  by 
the  use  of  domestic  animals,  maize,  and  building-stone ; 
and  an  upper  state,  marked  by  the  invention  and  use 
of  iron  tools.  The  third  period  is  that  of  civilization, 
which  is  characterized  by  the  introduction  of  the 
phonetic  alphabet  and  by  writing.  In  harmony  with 
this  general  view  is  that  of  a  writer  in  the  "  Con- 
temporary Review,"  who  defines  civilization  as  "  en- 
forced social  organization,  with  written  records,  and 
hence  intellectual  development  and  social  progress." 

It  will  be  noticed  that  Mr.  Morgan's  definition  of 
savagery  is  thus  far  framed  from  the  purely  physical 
point  of  view.  With  the  single  exception  of  speech, 
which  is  an  intellectual  endowment,  we  have  only 
roots,  fish-food,  fire,  the  bow,  and  hunting,  as  char- 
acteristics of  the  savage  state.  We  might  concede 
that  these  were  real  conditions  of  man's  first  estate,  and 
yet  escape  the  conclusion  that  he  was  degenerate.  Mr. 
Morgan,  however,  does  not  stop  with  attributing  these 
physical  features  to  man's  earliest  condition.  He  pro- 
ceeds to  assert  that  promiscuous  sexual  relations  were 
characteristic  of  that  condition,  that  matriarchy  was 
universal,  and  that  the  family  was  a  later  development. 
Other  writers  go  further  than  Mr.  Morgan,  and  at- 
tribute not  only  promiscuity  and  matriarchy,  but  also 
infanticide,    cannibalism,   and   fetishism,   to  primitive 

H 


114  MISCELLANIES 

man.  Savagery  thus  assumes  a  brutal  and  immoral 
aspect.  It  is  this  conception  of  man's  early  state  which 
Sir  John  Lubbock  presents  in  his  books  on  "  Pre- 
historic Times  "  and  "  The  Origin  of  Civilization." 
He  declares  that  "  the  primitive  condition  of  mankind 
was  one  of  utter  barbarism  " ;  and  by  barbarism  he 
means  the  lowest  savagery  and  the  most  extreme 
brutality.  It  is  this  view  of  man's  original  state  which 
I  seek  to  refute,  and  to  refute  by  adducing  evidence 
that  immoral  and  brutal  characteristics  are  the  result 
of  degeneration. 

Mr.  Morgan's  classification  may  aid  us  in  defining 
terms,  but  when  he  endeavors  to  show  that  mankind 
has  passed  through  his  three  periods  in  chronological 
order,  civilization  having  everywhere  been  preceded 
by  barbarism,  and  barbarism  by  savagery,  he  substi- 
tutes, in  our  judgment,  theory  for  fact,  and  he  builds 
up  his  scheme  upon  an  insufficient  induction.  Impor- 
tant ethical  and  even  biological  data  are  ignored.  His 
derivation  of  the  family  from  a  previous  state  of  pro- 
miscuity is  discredited  by  later  investigators,  and  may 
now  be  regarded  as  conclusively  disproved.  As  I  shall 
deal  shortly  with  this  particular  aspect  of  the  subject, 
I  content  myself  here  with  expressing  the  opinion  that 
the  sudden  currency  which  Mr.  Morgan's  view  ob- 
tained, was  in  large  part  due  to  an  overzealous  desire 
to  piece  out  Mr.  Darwin's  new  doctrine  as  to  the  origin 
of  man.  Any  view  was  welcome  which  tended  to 
strengthen  faith  in  a  brute  ancestry  and  an  unteleolog- 
ical  development.  If  man's  earliest  condition  was  that 
of  savagery,  it  was  easy  to  believe  that  the  savage  was 
only  a  developed  beast;  or,  to  put  it  more  succinctly. 


DEGENERATION  115 

if  the  first  man  was  a  perfect  brute,  the  highest  brute 
must  have  been  an  imperfect  man. 

The  thesis  which  we  set  out  to  prove,  however,  is 
not  that  there  has  been  no  development  of  the  human 
race.  This  development  we  grant  and  rejoice  in. 
What  we  contend  for  is  that  the  origin  and  the  law 
of  this  development  require  us  to  presuppose  an  or- 
daining and  governing  intelligence  greater  than  man's 
own,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  humanity  from 
the  beginning  has  not  only  shown  profound  ignorance 
of  its  own  interest  and  destiny,  but  has  also  wilfully 
hindered  its  own  progress.  History  shows  a  law  of 
degeneration,  supplementing  and  often  counteracting 
the  tendency  to  development.  In  the  earliest  times  of 
which  we  have  any  record,  we  find  nations  in  a  high 
state  of  civilization;  but  in  the  case  of  every  nation 
whose  history  runs  back  of  the  Christian  era — as,  for 
example,  the  Romans,  the  Greeks,  and  the  Egyptians — 
the  subsequent  progress  has  been  downward,  and  no 
nation  is  known  to  have  recovered  from  barbarism  ex- 
cept as  the  result  of  influence  from  without. 

It  will  probably  not  be  denied  that  modern  nations 
fall  far  short  of  the  old  Greek  perception  and  expres- 
sion of  beauty.  Modern  Greeks  admire,  but  they  can- 
not equal,  the  sculpture  or  the  architecture  of  their 
classical  ancestors.  Modern  Egyptians,  Italians,  and 
Spaniards  are  unquestionably  degenerate  races,  and  the 
same  is  true  of  Australians  and  Hottentots,  as  well 
as  of  Turks.  Abyssinians  are  now  polygamists,  though 
their  ancestors  were  Christians  and  monogamists. 
The  physical  degeneration  of  portions  of  the  popula- 
tion  of   Ireland   is   well   known.      AUhough   Herbert 


Il6  MISCELLANIES 

Spencer  denies  that  savagery  is  always  caused  by  lapse 
from  civilization,  he  grants  that  most  savages  "  had 
ancestors  in  higher  states,  and  among  their  beliefs  re- 
main some  which  were  evolved  during  those  higher 
states.  .  .  It  is  quite  possible,"  he  says,  "  and  I  believe 
highly  probable,  that  retrogression  has  been  as  frequent 
as  progression." 

In  his  "  Ethical  Aspects  of  Evolution,"  Benett  claims 
that  evolution  is  everywhere  the  parallel  growth  of 
opposite  tendencies.  It  is  certain  that  evolution  does 
not  necessarily  involve  progress  as  regards  particular 
races,  since  many  die  out  that  the  more  favored  may 
survive.  There  is  deterioration  in  all  the  organic 
orders.  "  Some  shrimps,  by  the  adjustment  of  their 
bodily  parts,"  as  the  biologists  assert,  "  go  onward 
to  the  higher  structure  of  lobsters  and  crabs;  w-hile 
others,  taking  up  the  habit  of  dwelling  in  the  gills  of 
fishes,  sink  downward  into  a  state  closely  resembling 
that  of  the  worms."  Lankester  tells  us  that  "  the  habit 
of  parasitism  clearly  acts  upon  animal  organization 
in  this  way.  Let  the  parasitic  life  be  once  secured,  and 
away  go  legs,  jaws,  eyes,  and  ears;  the  highly  gifted 
crab,  insect,  or  annelid,  may  become  a  mere  sac,  ab- 
sorbing nourishment  and  laying  eggs.  .  .  It  is  quite 
possible  that  animals  with  considerable  complexity  of 
structure,  at  least  as  complex  as  Ascidians,  may  have 
been  produced  from  more  highly  organized  ancestors." 

If  upward  evolution  is  measured  by  increasing  dif- 
ferentiation of  function,  then  this  loss  of  organs  and 
this  simplification  of  structure  must  be  regarded  as  a 
process  of  degeneration.  Any  adaptation  to  environ- 
ment which  involves  diminution  of  intelligence  is  a 


DEGENERATION  1 1? 

downward  evolution.  Professor  Shaler,  of  Harvard, 
indeed,  speaks  as  follows :  "  It  is  commonly  supposed 
that  the  direction  of  movement  [in  the  variation  of 
species]  is  ever  upward.  The  fact  is,  on  the  contrary, 
that  in  a  large  number  of  cases,  perhaps  in  the  aggre- 
gate more  than  half,  the  change  gives  rise  to  a  form 
which,  by  all  the  means  by  which  we  determine  rela- 
tive rank,  is  to  be  regarded  as  regressive  or  degrada- 
tional.  .  .  Species,  genera,  families,  and  orders,  have 
all,  like  the  individuals  of  which  they  are  composed, 
a  period  of  decay,  in  which  the  gain  won  by  infinite 
toil  and  pains  is  altogether  lost  in  the  old  age  of  the 
group." 

Shaler  goes  on  to  say  that,  in  the  matter  of  variation, 
successes  are  to  failures  as  one  to  one  hundred  thou- 
sand, and,  if  man  be  counted  as  the  solitary  distin- 
guished success,  then  the  proportion  is  something  like 
one  to  one  hundred  million.  No  species  that  passes 
away  is  ever  reinstated. 

If  man  were  now  to  disappear,  there  is  no  reason 
to  believe  that  by  any  process  of  change  a  similar 
creature  would  be  evolved,  however  long  the  animal 
kingdom  continued  to  exist.  The  use  of  these  succes- 
sive chances  is  inexplicable  except  upon  the  hypothesis 
of  an  infinite  designing  wisdom,  and  it  is  this  con- 
sideration which  converted  Shaler  from  an  agnostic 
into  a  theist. 

A  similar  argument  may  be  constructed  with  regard 
to  man's  later  history.  In  his  work  entitled  "  Social 
Evolution,"  Kidd  has  shown  that  progress  is  effected 
not  by,  but  in  spite  of,  individual  effort  and  intention. 
Professor  Clifford  indeed  declared  that  mankind  is  a 


Il8  MISCELLANIES 

risen  and  not  a  fallen  race.  But  there  is  no  real  con- 
tradiction between  these  two  views.  Both  are  true. 
There  are  two  principles  at  work  in  human  history. 
Humanity  has  ever  received  divine  reenforcements  of 
its  physical  life,  in  spite  of  its  moral  and  spiritual  de- 
terioration, and  Tennyson  can  well  speak  of : 

Evolution,  ever  climbing  after  some  ideal  good. 
And  Reversion,  ever  dragging  Evolution  in  the  mud. 

Evolution  often  becomes  devolution,  if  not  devilution. 
Tylor,  in  his  book  entitled  "  Primitive  Culture,"  pre- 
sents a  view  far  better  warranted  by  the  facts  than  is 
that  of  Lubbock.  Tylor  favors  a  theory  of  develop- 
ment, but  with  degeneration  "  as  a  secondary  action, 
largely  and  deeply  affecting  the  development  of  civil- 
ization." The  Duke  of  Argyll  comes  very  near  the 
truth  when  he  says :  "  Civilization  and  savagery  are 
both  the  results  of  evolutionary  development;  but  the 
one  is  a  development  in  the  upward,  the  latter  in  the 
downward  direction ;  and,  for  this  reason,  neither 
civilization  nor  savagery  can  rationally  be  looked  upon 
as  the  primitive  condition  of  man." 

Had  savagery  been  man's  primitive  condition,  he 
never  could  have  emerged  by  any  power  of  his  own. 
As  a  moral  being,  man  does  not  tend  to  rise,  but  to 
fall,  and  that  with  a  geometric  progress,  except  he  be 
elevated  and  sustained  by  some  force  from  without  and 
above  himself.  While  man  once  civilized  may  advance 
in  some  scientific  and  artistic  respects,  yet  moral  ideas 
are  apparently  never  developed  from  within.  For  this 
reason  Archbishop  Whately  wisely  argued  that  man 
needed  not  only  a  divine  Creator,  but  a  divine  In- 


DEGENERATION  I I9 

structor.  And  President  Julius  Seelye  has  given  us 
an  apt  illustration :  "  The  first  missionaries  to  the  In- 
dians in  Canada  took  with  them  skilled  laborers  to 
teach  the  savages  how  to  till  their  fields,  to  provide 
them  with  comfortable  homes,  clothing,  and  food. 
But  the  Indians  preferred  their  wigwams,  skins,  raw 
flesh,  and  filth.  Only  as  Christian  influences  taught 
the  Indian  his  inner  need,  and  how  this  was  to  be  sup- 
plied, was  he  led  to  wish  and  work  for  the  improve- 
ment of  his  outward  condition  and  habits.  Civilization 
does  not  reproduce  itself.  It  must  first  be  kindled,  and 
it  can  then  be  kept  alive  only  by  a  power  genuinely 
Christian."  We  might  multiply  instances,  but  one 
other  will  suffice.  Both  Japan  and  China  were  stag- 
nant, if  not  decadent,  until  touched  by  the  arts  and 
the  religion  of  Christian  lands.  Degeneration  is  more 
natural  than  progress,  until  a  barbarous  people  comes 
in  contact  with  influences  from  without. 

Leaving  now  these  general  considerations,  we  pass 
to  arguments  more  particular.  An  originally  savage 
condition  of  mankind  has  been  inferred  from  the  suc- 
cession of  implements  and  weapons,  from  stone  to 
bronze  and  iron.  But  Mason,  in  his  "  Origins  of  In- 
vention," a  very  thorough  discussion  of  the  subject, 
declares  that  "  there  is  no  evidence  that  a  Stone  age 
ever  existed  in  some  regions.  In  Africa,  Canada,  and 
perhaps  Michigan,  the  Metal  age  was  as  old  as  the 
Stone  age."  Late  investigations,  in  fact,  have  made  it 
probable  that  the  Stone  age  of  some  localities  was  con- 
temporaneous with  the  Bronze  and  Iron  ages  of  others, 
while  certain  tribes  and  nations,  instead  of  making 
progress  from  one  to  the  other,  were  never,  so  far 


I20  MISCELLANIES 

back  as  we  can  trace  them,  without  the  knowledge  and 
use  of  metals.  RawHnson  tells  us  that  "  the  explorers 
who  have  dug  deep  into  the  Mesopotamian  mounds,  and 
have  ransacked  the  tombs  of  Egypt,  have  come  upon 
no  certain  traces  of  savage  men  in  those  regions  which 
a  widespread  tradition  makes  the  cradle  of  the  human 
race." 

The  arts  of  civilization  can  certainly  be  lost.  Rude 
art  is  often  the  debasement  of  a  higher,  instead  of  being 
the  earlier.  The  rudest  art  in  a  nation  may  co-exist 
with  the  highest.  Even  cave-life  may  accompany  high 
civilization.  Arthur  Mitchell,  in  his  work  "  The  Past 
in  the  Present,"  gives  some  curious  illustrations  from 
modern  Scotland,  where  the  burial  of  a  cock  for  epi- 
lepsy, and  the  sacrifice  of  a  bull,  were  until  very  re- 
cently extant.  Certain  arts  have  unquestionably  been 
lost,  as  glass-making  and  iron- working  in  Assyria. 
Even  without  such  knowledge  and  use,  man  is  not 
necessarily  a  barbarian,  though  he  may  be  a  child.  The 
Tyrolese  peasants  show  that  a  rude  people  may  be 
moral,  and  a  very  simple  people  may  be  highly  intel- 
ligent. The  most  ancient  men  do  not  appear  to  have 
been  inferior  to  the  latest  in  their  natural  endowments, 
whether  physical  or  intellectual. 

The  barbarous  customs  to  which  this  view  looks  for 
its  support  may  be  better  explained  as  marks  of  broken- 
down  civilization  than  as  relics  of  a  primitive  sav- 
agery. Even  if  they  indicated  a  former  state  of  bar- 
barism, that  state  might  have  been  itself  preceded  by  a 
condition  of  comparative  culture.  Lubbock  seems  to 
admit  that  cannibalism  was  not  primeval ;  yet  he  shows 
a  general  tendency  to  take  every  brutal  custom  as  a 


DEGENERATION  121 

sample  of  man's  first  state;  and  this,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  many  such  customs  are  demonstrably  the  re- 
sult of  corruption.  Bride-catching,  for  example,  is 
perfectly  natural,  as  a  part  of  the  process  of  spoiling 
the  vanquished  in  war.  Since  women  can  be  made 
wives,  concubines,  or  drudges,  they  become  a  prey  to 
the  victor.  Bride-catching  could  not  possibly  have 
been  primeval.  Where  it  is  not  an  incident  of  war,  it 
is  an  exaggeration  and  perversion  of  male  gallantry. 
Its  origin  may  be  found  in  the  coyness  of  the  female — 
a  coyness  seen  even  in  the  higher  orders  of  the  brute 
creation,  where  female  animals  often  run  after  the 
male  and  then  turn  to  flee,  only  submitting  after  long 
pursuit  and  much  persuasion.  Doctor  Nansen  tells 
us  that  on  the  east  coast  of  Greenland  the  only  method 
of  contracting  a  marriage  is  for  the  man  to  go  to  the 
girl's  tent,  catch  her  by  the  hair  or  anything  else  that 
offers  a  hold,  and  drag  her  off  to  his  dwelling  without 
further  ado.  Violent  scenes  are  often  the  result,  as, 
without  resistance,  the  woman  fears  to  lose  her  reputa- 
tion for  modesty.  But  the  woman's  relatives  mean- 
while stand  quietly  looking  on,  as  the  struggle  is  con- 
sidered a  purely  private  affair. 

"  Cannibalism  and  infanticide,"  says  Gulick,  "  are 
unknown  among  the  anthropoid  apes.  These  must 
be  the  results  of  degradation.  Pirates  and  slaveholders 
are  not  men  of  low  and  abortive  intelligence,  but  men  of 
education,  who  deliberately  throw  off  all  restraint,  and 
w^ho  use  their  powers  for  the  destruction  of  society." 
"  There  is  no  cruel  treatment  of  females  among  ani- 
mals," says  Mark  Hopkins.  "  If  man  came  from  the 
lower  animals,  then  he  cannot  have  been  originally 


122  MISCELLANIES 

savage;  for  you  find  the  most  of  this  cruel  treatment 
among  savages,"  and  not  among  the  lower  animals. 

Henry  Drummond,  in  his  "  Ascent  of  Man,"  gives 
us  a  striking  simile.  "  When  a  boy's  kite  comes  down 
in  our  garden  we  do  not  hold  that  it  originally  came 
from  the  clouds.  So  nations  went  up  before  they  came 
down.  There  is  a  national  gravitation.  The  stick  age 
preceded  the  Stone  age,  but  has  been  lost."  Tylor  in- 
stances "  street  arabs."  He  compares  street  arabs  to 
a  ruined  house,  but  savage  tribes  to  a  builder's  yard. 
It  has  been  well  said  that  "  as  plausible  an  argument 
might  be  constructed,  out  of  the  deterioration  and 
degradation  of  some  of  the  human  family,  to  prove 
that  man  may  have  evolved  downward  into  an  an- 
thropoid ape,  as  that  which  has  been  constructed  to 
prove  that  he  has  been  evolved  upward  from  one." 

Sir  H.  H.  Johnston,  an  administrator  who  has  had  a 
wider  experience  of  the  natives  of  Africa  than  any 
other  man  living,  declares  that  "  the  tendency  of  the 
Negro  for  several  centuries  past  has  been  an  actually 
retrograde  one — return  toward  the  savage  and  even 
the  brute.  If  he  had  been  cut  off  from  the  immigra- 
tion of  the  Arab  and  the  European,  the  purely  Negroid 
races,  left  to  themselves,  so  far  from  advancing  toward 
a  higher  type  of  humanity,  might  have  actually  re- 
verted by  degrees  to  a  type  no  longer  human."  There 
is  no  higher  authority  in  anthropology  than  Ratzel's 
"  History  of  Mankind."  It  is  an  exhaustive  summary 
of  the  latest  investigations.  And  this  is  the  testimony  of 
Ratzel :  ''  We  assign  no  great  antiquity  to  Polynesian 
civilization.  In  New  Zealand  it  is  a  matter  of  only 
some  centuries  back.     In  newly  occupied  territories  the 


DEGENERATION  I23 

development  of  the  population  began  upon  a  higher 
level,  and  then  fell  off.  The  Maori's  decadence  resulted 
in  the  rapid  impoverishment  of  culture,  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  people  became  more  savage  and  cruel. 
Captain  Cook  found  objects  of  art  worshiped  by  the 
descendants  of  those  who  produced  them," 

I  have  already  intimated  my  belief  that  recent  re- 
searches have  discredited  Mr.  Lewis  H.  Morgan's 
theory  of  an  original  brutal  promiscuity  of  the  human 
race.  I  proceed  now  to  indicate  the  grounds  for  this 
belief,  and  1  quote  to  a  large  extent  the  words  of  others. 
**  The  theory  of  an  original  promiscuity,"  says  Ritchie, 
"  is  rendered  extremely  doubtful  by  the  habits  of 
many  of  the  higher  animals."  "  The  solitary  life  of 
the  manlike  apes  shows  that  man  was  not  originally 
a  gregarious  animal.  The  gorilla  usually  lives  in  pairs 
or  families,  and  there  is  only  one  adult  male  attached 
to  each  group."  (Westermarck,  42.)  "A  sort  of 
family  life,"  says  E.  B.  Tylor,  "  lasting  for  the  sake 
of  the  young  beyond  a  single  pairing  season,  exists 
among  the  higher  manlike  apes.  The  male  gorilla 
keeps  watch  and  ward  over  his  progeny.  He  is  the 
antetype  of  the  house-father."  We  may  add  that  any 
theory  which  regards  promiscuity  as  man's  original 
state  must  itself  accept  degeneration  as  an  element  in 
evolution,  since  among  the  lower  creatures  from  whom 
man  has  risen  we  already  find  unions  of  some  per- 
manence between  the  single  male  and  the  single  female. 
With  the  birds,  marriage  is  an  almost  universal  in- 
stitution, and  it  is  found  as  a  general  rule  among  the 
anthropomorphous  apes.  Is  it  possible  to  regard  man 
as  the  product  of  a  merely  naturalistic  evolution,  if  at 


124  MISCELLANIES 

his  beginnings  he  falls  so  far  below  creatures  of  less 
intelligence  than  he? 

Mr.  Morgan  cites  matriarchy  and  the  reckoning  of 
descent  in  the  female  line  as  proof  that  promiscuity  must 
have  been  man's  original  condition.  In  such  a  condi- 
tion, he  argues,  it  never  could  be  certain  who  was  the 
father  of  a  child ;  only  the  mother  was  surely  known ; 
this  certainty  of  relationship  secured  the  authority  of 
the  mother  and  the  giving  of  her  name  to  the  child. 
But  Herbert  Spencer  shows  that,  without  the  assump- 
tion of  promiscuity,  it  is  perfectly  natural  that  the 
child  shouhl  be  named  from  the  mother  with  whom  it 
spends  its  early  life,  and  Westermarck  finds  a  sufficient 
explanation  of  occasional  matriarchy  in  the  fact  that 
the  tie  between  a  mother  and  her  child  is  much 
stronger  than  that  which  binds  a  child  to  its  father. 
Not  only  has  she  given  birth  to  it,  but  she  has  also 
for  years  been  seen  carrying  it  about  at  her  breast. 
"  In  the  light  of  present  research,"  says  Howard,  "  the 
most  that  can  be  safely  admitted,  concerning  the  sys- 
tem of  kinship  through  females  only,  is  that  it  has 
widely  existed  among  the  races  of  mankind,  although 
its  prevalence  has  been  greatly  exaggerated.  .  .  It  is 
very  archaic,  yet  not  necessarily  primitive.  There  is  no 
satisfactory  evidence  that  it  implies  an  original  stage 
of  promiscuity."  Howard  indeed  declares  that,  in  the 
lower  hunting  stage  of  human  development.  "  a  kind 
of  patriarchate,  or  androcracy,  generally  prevailed." 
Tylor  regards  the  matriarchal  system  as  a  later  device, 
for  political  reasons,  to  bind  together  in  peace  and 
alliance  tribes  that  would  otherwise  be  hostile.  It  is 
an  artificial  system  introduced  as  a  substitute  for,  and 


DEGENERATION  I25 

in  opposition  to,  the  natural  paternal  system.  When 
the  social  pressure  is  removed,  the  maternalized  hus- 
band emancipates  himself,  and  paternalism  begins. 

The  latest  works  upon  the  subject  are  Westermarck's 
"  History  of  Human  Marriage,"  Howard's  "  History 
of  Matrimonial  Institutions,"  and  Crawley's  "  The 
Mystic  Rose."  The  following  are  the  words  of 
Westermarck :  "  Marriage  was  probably  transmitted  to 
man  from  some  apelike  ancestor,  and  there  never  was 
a  time  when  it  did  not  exist  in  the  human  race.  .  . 
Marriage  and  the  family  are  intimately  connected  with 
one  another :  it  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  young  that 
male  and  female  continue  to  live  together.  Marriage 
is,  therefore,  rooted  in  the  family,  rather  than  the 
family  in  marriage.  .  .  There  is  not  a  shred  of  genuine 
evidence  that  promiscuity  ever  formed  a  general  stage 
in  the  social  history  of  mankind.  The  hypothesis  of 
promiscuity,  instead  of  belonging  to  the  class  of  hy- 
potheses which  are  scientifically  permissible,  has  no  real 
foundation,  and  is  essentially  unscientific."  Howard 
declares  that  "  Marriage,  or  pairing  between  one  man 
and  one  woman,  though  the  union  be  often  transitory, 
and  the  rule  often  violated,  is  the  typical  form  of 
sexual  union  from  the  infancy  of  the  human  race." 
And  Crawley  gives  his  conclusion  as  follows :  "  All  the 
facts  are  distinctly  opposed  to  the  probability  that  in- 
cest or  promiscuity  was  ever  generally  practised  at  all. 
Savage  woman  was  not  utterly  depraved.  One  is 
struck  by  the  high  morality  of  primitive  man." 

Henry  Sumner  Maine  calls  the  Bible  the  most  im- 
portant single  document  in  the  history  of  sociology, 
because  it  exhibits  authentically  the  early  development 


126  MISCELLANIES 

of  society  from  the  family,  through  the  tribe,  into  the 
nation — a  progress  learned  only  by  glimpses,  intervals, 
and  survivals  of  old  usages,  in  the  literature  of  other 
nations.  The  well-nigh  universal  tradition  of  a  golden 
age  of  virtue  and  happiness  corroborates  the  Scripture 
record  as  to  an  original  state  of  integrity  and  a  sub- 
sequent fall.  "  In  Hesiod,"  says  Pfleiderer,  "  we  have 
the  legend  of  a  golden  age  under  the  lordship  of 
Chronos,  when  man  was  free  from  cares  and  toils,  in 
untroubled  youth  and  cheerfulness,  with  a  superabun- 
dance of  the  gifts  which  the  earth  furnished  of  itself; 
the  race  was  indeed  not  immortal,  but  it  experienced 
death  as  a  soft  sleep."  All  this  was  changed  by  trans- 
gression. The  capacity  for  religious  truth  depends  on 
moral  conditions.  Very  early  races,  therefore,  have  a 
purer  faith  than  the  later  ones.  Increasing  depravity 
makes  it  harder  for  the  later  generations  to  exercise 
faith.  The  wisdom-literature  may  have  been  very  early 
instead  of  very  late,  just  as  monotheistic  ideas  are 
clearer  the  farther  we  go  back.  Social  degradation 
has  its  root  in  a  departure  from  known  ethical  stand- 
ards. As  Henry  George  puts  it :  "  The  law  of  human 
progress — what  is  it  but  the  moral  law?  "  Civilization 
has  in  vast  regions  of  Asia  and  of  Africa  become 
petrified.  "  Precisely  because  Australians  and  Afri- 
cans," says  Bixby,  ''  have  been  deficient  in  average 
moral  quality,  have  they  failed  to  march  upward  on 
the  road  of  civilization  with  the  rest  of  mankind,  and 
have  fallen  into  these  bog-holes  of  savage  degradation." 
Apart  from  the  corrective  and  uplifting  influence  of 
the  immanent  God,  we  can  subscribe  to  Dr.  A.  J.  Gor- 
don's dictum  that  "  the  Jordan  is  the  fitting  symbol  of 


DEGENERATION  12/ 

our  natural  life,  rising  in  a  lofty  elevation  and  from 
pure  springs,  but  plunging  steadily  down  till  it  pours 
itself  into  the  Dead  Sea,  from  which  there  is  no  outlet," 


The  conclusion  to  which  we  are  forced  by  the  fore- 
going discussion  has  already  been  anticipated.  Yet 
it  may  be  well  to  state  it  once  more  in  summary  form. 
We  hold  that  the  theory  of  evolution  is  overworked 
when  it  is  made  to  guarantee  a  savage  origin  of  the 
human  race  and  a  continuous  upward  progress  since 
man's  beginning.  We  grant  the  principle  of  develop- 
ment, so  long  as  it  is  regarded  as  the  purposive  method 
of  the  immanent  God.  But  we  insist  that  another  prin- 
ciple of  deterioration  must  be  admitted,  as  hindering 
and  often  counteracting  this  development,  namely,  the 
free  will  of  man  and  its  actual  abuse.  Primitive  man 
was  infantile,  but  he  was  not  savage.  On  the  contrary, 
if  savagery  means  a  blind  submission  to  animal  in- 
stincts, man  was  intelligent  and  moral.  By  disobedience 
to  known  law,  he  converted  an  upward  into  a  down- 
v^'ard  evolution,  at  least  so  far  as  his  moral  and  spiritual 
state  was  concerned.  This  ethical  lapse  resulted  in  fre- 
quent and  even  general  physical  and  social  deteriora- 
tion ;  although,  through  the  counteracting  influence  of 
the  divine  Spirit,  there  have  been  higher  aspirations 
and  achievements,  and  a  pushing  of  humanity  in  spite 
of  itself  toward  its  true  goal  and  destiny.  A  very  high 
artistic  and  poetic  development  may  co-exist  with  great 
moral  degradation,  as  in  the  days  of  Raphael  and  the 
Borgias,  when  a  pope  could  have  his  paramour  painted 
for  an  altar-piece  representing  the  Virgin. 


128  MISCELLANIES 

The  Scriptures,  after  all,  furnish  us  with  the  best  phi- 
losophy of  history.  Science  does  not  contradict — it 
rather  confirms  the  biblical  declarations.  I  have  ad- 
duced proof  of  a  frequent  retrogression  in  man's  his- 
tory from  the  writings  of  such  jurists  as  Sir  H.  H. 
Johnston  and  Sir  Henry  Sumner  Maine;  from  such 
naturalists  as  Lankester,  Lyell,  and  Shaler;  from  such 
historians  as  Rawlinson,  Ratzel,  and  Lange ;  from 
such  philosophers  as  Kidd,  Bixby,  Ritchie,  Seelye, 
Hopkins,  Argyll,  Martineau,  and  Herbert  Spencer; 
from  such  travelers  as  Mason,  Mitchell,  and  Nansen; 
from  such  theologians  as  Fisher,  Diman,  Whately,  and 
Gordon ;  from  such  anthropologists  and  ethnologists  as 
Crawley,  Tylor,  Westermarck,  Drummond,  and  How- 
ard. In  the  light  of  this  evidence  it  seems  to  me  still 
possible  and  rational  to  believe  that  man  was  made  in 
the  image  of  God ;  that  man's  condition  was  that  of  an 
innocent  child,  but  not  that  of  a  brutal  savage;  that 
he  possessed  a  knowledge  of  God  and  of  duty ;  that  by 
transgression  he  fell  into  a  lower  moral  state  which 
involved  him  in  degradation  and  misery;  that  growing 
knowledge  of  the  arts,  even  in  the  most  civilized,  was 
accompanied  by  a  growing  moral  blindness,  until  mono- 
theism was  replaced  by  pantheism,  polytheism,  or 
atheism.  The  Apostle  Paul,  in  the  first  chapter  of  his 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  has  given  us  the  key  to  history, 
when  he  declares  that  primitive  man  knew  God,  but 
glorified  him  not  as  God ;  that  he  exchanged  the  truth 
of  God  for  a  lie,  and  in  consequence  was  given  up  to  a 
reprobate  mind;  and  that  his  degeneration  can  be 
counteracted  only  by  regeneration  from  above. 


XXVIII 
THE  USE  OF  THE  WILL  IN  RELIGION ' 

Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling;  for  it  is 
God  who  worketh  in  you,  both  to  will  and  to  work,  for  his  good 
pleasure.     (Phil.  2:  12,  13.) 

Our  first  and  most  important  religious  act  is  the  sign- 
ing of  a  declaration  of  dependence.  We  need  to  recog- 
nize our  relation  to  God,  to  see  that  he  is  the  source 
of  all  good,  and  that  without  him  we  can  do  nothing. 
But  we  are  not  to  be  mystics,  folding  our  hands  and 
leaving  everything  to  God.  He  has  made  us  reasoning 
and  voluntary  beings,  and  when  he  works  in  us,  he 
only  puts  us  in  more  complete  possession  of  our  powers 
of  intellect  and  will.  Our  declaration  of  dependence 
needs  to  be  followed  by  a  declaration  of  independence. 
We  must  see  to  it  that  we  become  co-workers  with 
God  and  not  mere  puppets  moved  by  the  divine  fingers. 
The  true  Christian  is  more  of  a  man  than  he  ever 
was  before,  and  while  God  works  in  him,  he  is  also  to 
work  out  his  own  salvation. 

This  Independence  Day  is  a  fit  time  to  consider  the 
use  of  the  wall  in  matters  of  religion.  We  can  easily 
see  the  importance  of  stern  resolve  in  the  achievement 
of  our  national  independence.  Our  fathers  trusted  in 
God,  but  they  also  kept  their  powder  dry.  They 
opened  their  Congress  with  prayer,  but  they  also  at 
Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill  fired  shots  that  were  heard 

1  A  sermon  preached  in  the  Congregational  Church,  Canandaigua,  N.  V  ,  on  the 
fourth  day  of  July,  1909. 

I  129 


130  MISCELLANIES 

around  the  world.  "  Where  there  is  a  will,  there  is  a 
way,"  says  the  old  proverb;  and  this  is  far  more  true 
for  those  who  work  with  God  than  for  those  who  work 
without  him.  Each  one  of  us,  like  Adam,  has  a  gar- 
den to  dress  and  keep, — a  garden  of  the  soul  given  us 
by  God.  The  laws  of  moisture  and  soil  and  sunshine 
are  matters  of  the  divine  working;  in  a  certain  sense 
we  have  nothing  that  we  have  not  first  received.  But 
then  it  is  also  true  that  we  are  not  automata;  with- 
out our  wills  God  will  not  act;  our  energy  and  per- 
sistence are  needed  to  keep  the  weeds  under  and  to  get 
the  best  results  of  growth.  No  process  of  natural 
evolution  will  do  our  work  for  us.  In  the  history  of 
man  moral  evolution  takes  the  place  of  physical  evolu- 
tion. Plants  can  be  made  to  grow  inside  a  garden 
wall  that  would  perish  on  the  open  heath.  God  makes 
us  his  agents,  and  so  respects  the  will  of  man  that  only 
through  that  will  will  he  accomplish  his  will. 

I  wish  to  apply  this  principle  of  activity  to  some 
departments  of  life  in  which  we  are  often  tempted  to 
ignore  our  responsibility  . 

And  first  in  the  matter  of  prayer.  Have  you  ever 
sufficiently  considered  that  praying  is  commanded? 
Jesus  does  not  say:  "If  you  ask,  you  will  receive." 
No;  he  uses  the  imperative  mood:  "Ask,  and  ye  shall 
receive."  Prayer  is  not  optional ;  it  is  a  duty.  "  Men 
ought  always  to  pray  and  not  to  faint."  We  are  to 
put  zvill  into  prayer,  and  to  pray  hardest  when  it  is 
hardest  to  pray.  When  we  pray,  we  are  to  will  the 
answer,  to  expect  that  our  praying  will  not  be  in  vain ; 
nay,  to  take  what  we  ask,  with  the  grasp  of  faith,  and 
to  believe  that  we  hare  the  petitions  that  we  asked. 


THE    USE    OF    THE    WILL    IN    RELIGION  I3I 

"  Prayer,"  said  Coleridge,  "  is  the  intensest  exercise  of 
the  human  understanding."  Yes,  and  the  intensest 
exercise  of  the  human  wiU,  for  it  is  the  product  of 
God's  Spirit  within  us.  And  this  reheves  it  from  all 
charge  of  arbitrariness  and  selfishness.  We  work  out 
our  own  salvation  in  prayer,  only  because  it  is  God 
that  works  in  us  to  will  and  to  do.  Pray  then,  with  all 
the  will  you  have,  and  you  will  find  that  another  higher 
will  is  helping  your  infirmities  and  making  intercession 
for  you.  You  may  begin  as  weak  as  Jacob  wrestling 
in  the  night,  and  you  may  end  as  a  very  Israel  who  has 
striven  with  God  and  with  men,  and  has  prevailed. 
Use  your  will  when  you  pray,  and  God  will  make  your 
will  a  means  of  accomplishing  his  will,  and  of  hasten- 
ing the  triumph  of  his  kingdom. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  this  putting  of  will  into  prayer 
helps  the  answer  to  prayer.  God  will  not  do  for  us 
what  we  can  do  for  ourselves,  and  when  we  will  the 
result,  we  are  ready,  so  far  as  in  us  lies,  to  bring  about 
the  result.  Prayer  without  the  use  of  means  is  an 
insult  to  God.  Can  a  drowning  man  refuse  to  swim, 
or  even  to  lay  hold  of  the  rope  that  is  thrown  to  him, 
and  yet  ask  God  to  save  him?  Frederick  Douglas 
used  to  say  that  when  in  slavery  he  often  prayed  for 
freedom,  but  his  prayer  was  never  answered  until  he 
prayed  with  his  feet,  and  ran  away.  True  faith  is  a 
resting  in  the  Lord  after  we  have  done  our  part.  That 
does  not  mean  that  prayer  effects  nothing  outside  of 
us,  and  that  its  only  influence  is  its  reflex  influence 
upon  ourselves.  But  it  does  mean  that  God's  working 
proceeds  only  as  fast  as  ours;  only  in  our  own  work- 
ino-  have  we  a  right  to  believe  that  he  works;  only 


132 


MISCELLANIES 


when  we  do  all  we  can,  have  we  the  assurance  that  he 
will  supplement  our  efforts.  '*  Tie  your  camel,  and 
commit  it  to  God,"  said  Mohammed.  If  you  leave 
it  untied,  all  your  praying  will  not  prevent  its  straying 
from  the  camp.  We  must  not  throw  upon  the  shoul- 
ders of  Providence  the  burdens  which  belong  to  us. 
Only  when  we  do  all  we  can  to  answer  our  own 
prayers,  only  when  we  summon  up  our  own  wills  to 
fulfil  God's  will,  can  we  take  to  ourselves  the  promise : 
"  Rest  in  Jehovah,  and  wait  patiently  for  him.  .  .  Trust 
also  in  him,  and  he  will  bring  it  to  pass." 

But  I  am  asked  a  serious  question  here.  To  have 
a  will  conformed  to  the  will  of  God;  is  this  possible 
except  as  God  works  in  us  to  will  and  to  do?  And  is 
not  this  a  gift  of  his  Holy  Spirit?  Let  me  answer 
this  question  by  suggesting  a  second  application  of 
my  theme  to  our  reception  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Here 
too,  we  must  use  our  wills.  We  have  been  too  much 
accustomed  to  the  idea  that  we  must  be  passive  in  all 
that  pertains  to  the  Spirit's  influences.  We  wait  for 
his  movements,  as  if  we  had  nothing  to  do.  When 
he  works,  we  wonder,  as  we  do  when  we  watch  sheet- 
lightning  upon  the  horizon  in  summertime.  It  may 
instruct  us  to  notice  the  word  Jesus  used  when  he  first 
bestowed  the  gift  of  his  Spirit.  In  the  upper  chamber 
after  his  resurrection  he  breathed  upon  his  disciples 
and  said  :  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Spirit."  But  the  word 
is  a  simpler  one  than  even  the  word  "  receive  " ;  it  is 
the  common  word  "  take."  Jesus  commands  that  we 
take  what  he  freely  provides.  "  We  cannot  make 
peace;  but  we  can  take  peace,"  says  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon. 
It  is  not  a  passive  reception  which  he  requires,  but  an 


THE    USE    OF    THE    WILL    IN    RELIGION  1 33 

active  appropriation.  In  other  words,  there  is  an  ap- 
peal to  our  wills ;  we  are  to  grasp  the  promise ;  we  are 
to  take  the  offered  Spirit;  we  are  believingly  to  put 
forth  effort,  and  to  realize  Christ's  gift  to  our  souls. 

"  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth  ...  so  is  every 
one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit."  Yes,  but  some  things 
about  the  wind  are  known.  You  must  spread  your 
sails  to  catch  the  breeze,  or  your  boat  will  not  move 
as  it  should.  The  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  not 
meant  to  discourage  effort,  but  to  encourage  it.  The 
Holy  Spirit  has  been  given  once  for  all.  This  is  the 
dispensation  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Ever  since  Pentecost 
he  has  filled  the  rooms  where  we  have  been  sitting. 
Like  the  all-surrounding  atmosphere,  he  has  encom- 
passed us  and  has  penetrated  into  every  open  cranny  of 
our  hearts.  We  can  have  his  influences  at  any  time 
by  simply  taking  him  for  ours.  God  is  more  willing 
to  give  his  pure  air  than  we  are  to  open  our  windows 
and  let  it  in.  And  he  is  more  willing  to  give  his  Holy 
Spirit  than  we  are  to  ask  that  last  and  greatest  of 
his  gifts.  Nothing  is  in  the  way  of  our  receiving  but 
our  unwillingness.  Let  us  use  our  wills  in  taking  what 
he  longs  to  bestow.  In  Christ  dwells  all  the  fulness 
of  the  Godhead  bodily,  and  in  him  we  are  made  full. 
We  cannot  create  the  Spirit's  influences,  nor  can  we 
earn  them,  but  we  can  take  them,  by  the  positive  exer- 
cise of  our  wills,  so  that  we  are  strengthened  in  the 
inward  man  and  filled  unto  all  the  fulness  of  God. 

Let  us  apply  this  principle  to  the  opposite  realm  of 
physical  healing.  How  plain  it  is  that  the  use  of  the 
will  is  needful  here!  The  influence  of  the  mind  on  the 
body  is  almost  a  discovery  of  our  time.     A  half-cen- 


134  MISCELLANIES 

tury  ago,  Edward  Payson  could  preach  and  pray 
seraphically  on  Sunday,  retire  to  rest  after  a  supper 
of  pound  cake  and  mince  pie,  and  then  wonder  why 
Satan  was  let  loose  upon  him  the  next  day.  Our  phys- 
ical system  was  hardly  thought  to  be  subject  to  law, 
and  we  were  not  supposed  to  be  responsible  for  its 
condition.  Now  we  begin  to  see  that  the  body  greatly 
influences  the  mind.  That  was  the  grain  of  truth 
in  materialism.  We  have  yet  to  learn  that  the  mind 
greatly  influences  the  body;  that  the  emotions  affect 
digestion;  that  the  will  has  much  to  do  in  causing 
and  in  curing  disease.  Christian  Science  so  called  is 
simply  the  exaggeration  of  this  truth,  combined  with 
some  unwarranted  denials.  No  one  can  deny  that  a 
pessimistic  physician  may  discourage  a  patient  and  pro- 
long his  illness,  while  an  optimistic  physician  may 
communicate  cheer  and  hasten  recovery.  The  deter- 
mination to  get  well  is  a  great  asset  in  sickness.  Hys- 
terical diseases  in  particular  are  largely  due  to  a  paraly- 
sis of  the  will,  and  anything  that  shocks  the  patient 
into  even  paroxysmal  effort  helps  a  return  to  health. 

I  would  not  interpret  the  miracles  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment by  this  principle  alone,  yet  I  am  sure  that  this 
principle  was  not  ignored  by  Jesus.  He  appealed  to 
faith,  and  faith  is  an  exercise  of  will.  There  is  a 
basis  of  reason,  but  upon  that  basis  faith  builds  a 
structure  of  the  unseen  and  the  future.  Faith  is  a  leap 
in  the  dark,  but  a  leap  made  at  the  command  of  one 
whom  we  trust  and  of  one  who  knows.  The  man 
with  the  withered  hand,  had  he  anything  to  do  in 
his  cure?  Well,  at  least  he  had  a  hand  in  it.  When 
our  Lord  bade   him   stretch   forth   his   hand   he   had 


THE    USE    OF    THE    WILL    IN    RELIGION  1 35 

to  obey  or  he  would  not  have  been  healed.  The 
command  was  intended  to  rouse  the  will,  and  the  action 
of  the  will  was  as  needful  as  the  communication  of 
divine  power.  So  when  Peter  at  the  Beautiful  Gate  of 
the  temple  fastened  his  eyes  on  the  lame  man  and  said. 
"  Look  on  us,"  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  inoculating 
the  lame  man  with  his  own  faith,  and  inducing  him 
to  spring  to  his  feet  and  walk.  The  Emmanuel  Move- 
ment, so  far  as  it  has  biblical  warrant  and  support, 
is  nothing  but  an  application  to  our  modern  life  of 
this  old-fashioned  doctrine  that  many  physical  ills 
can  be  reached  and  cured  by  combining  physical  with 
spiritual  agencies.  Christ  is  the  Saviour  of  the  body 
as  well  as  of  the  soul.  It  should  not  be  beneath  the 
dignity  of  the  physician  to  use  moral  influence  as  well 
as  physical,  and  Christ,  the  great  physician  of  the  soul, 
can  do  greater  things  than  we  commonly  suppose  in 
the  healing  of  the  body. 

We  need  to  apply  this  principle  to  all  speaking  for 
Christ.  Every  orator  or  preacher  knows  how  indis- 
pensable is  the  use  of  the  will  in  public  address.  In 
a  certain  sense  the  speaker  must  dominate  his  audience, 
must  convince  them  that  he  has  something  worth  say- 
ing, and  that  he  can  say  it.  There  was  an  apostolic 
boldness  which  was  caught  from  Jesus  himself,  for 
when  the  Jews  saw  that  boldness  in  the  disciples  they 
took  knowledge  of  them  that  they  had  been  with  Jesus. 
The  conviction  that  they  had  a  message  and  the  deter- 
mination to  utter  it,  whether  men  would  hear  or  for- 
bear, imply  an  exercise  and  energy  of  will.  But  what 
is  true  of  the  preacher  is  equally  true  of  all  Christian 
workers,  in  the  pew  as  well  as  in  the  pulpit.     The 


136  MISCELLANIES 

Sunday-school  teacher  must  be  a  propagandist.  The 
private  Christian  must  be  a  witness  for  his  Lord.  We 
are  to  be  co-workers  with  God,  not  only  working  out 
our  own  salvation,  but  also  the  salvation  of  others. 
And  this  involves  a  struggle  with  our  own  reticence 
and  cowardice,  and  a  resolve  to  be  faithful  to  Christ 
and  to  his  truth. 

But  such  action  of  the  will  has  its  rich  reward. 
Utterance  of  the  truth  gives  new  perception  of  the 
truth  and  new  confidence  in  the  truth.  We  ourselves 
clothe  the  objects  of  vision  with  half  their  qualities. 
Setting  our  hearts  upon  another,  we  create  for  our- 
selves the  object  of  our  affection.  So  every  man  can 
say,  "  My  God,"  "  My  Saviour,"  "  My  Gospel  " ;  for 
each  one  of  us  has  his  own  angle  of  vision,  and  sees 
some  things  in  the  infinite  Reality  which  no  one  else 
has  ever  discovered.  Every  teacher  in  the  Sunday- 
school  has  this  privilege  of  speaking  as  the  oracles  of 
God.  And  even  the  utterance  of  seeming  weakness 
will  not  be  in  vain,  for  no  word  from  God  shall  be 
void  of  power.  "  Workers  together  with  God  "  does 
not  mean  that  God  does  all  and  man  accomplishes  noth- 
ing. No,  the  activity  of  our  wills  is  not  an  idle  show. 
God  makes  our  wills  the  agents  of  his  will.  He  moves 
us  to  touch  the  button  indeed,  but  our  touching  the 
button  starts  the  machinery  far  away.  We  are  made 
indispensable  factors  in  the  government  of  the  universe ; 
we  even  now  sit  with  him  upon  his  throne;  we  push 
forward  the  triumphs  of  his  kingdom;  we  enter  into 
the  work  and  power  of  Christ. 

Let  us  apply  this  principle  to  the  larger  work  of  the 
church  in  saving  the  world.     The  day  has  long  gone 


THE    USE    OF    THE    WILL    IN    RELIGION  I37 

by  when  William  Carey  could  be  told  by  his  elders  in 
the  ministry :  "  Young  man,  when  God  wants  to  con- 
vert the  heathen,  he  will  do  it  without  you  or  me." 
Now  we  see  that  God  has  committed  the  truth  to  the 
church,  and  that  Christians  are  stewards  of  the  mys- 
teries of  God,  responsible  for  holding-  forth  the  word  of 
life,  debtors  to  both  Greeks  and  barbarians  to  give 
them  the  gospel.  God  has  decreed  that  every  knee 
shall  bow  and  that  every  tongue  shall  confess  that 
Christ  is  Lord,  but  that  decree  will  never  be  executed 
until  God's  people  also  decree  to  send  the  men  and 
give  the  money  for  missions.  We  may  pray  forever 
that  God's  kingdom  may  come  and  that  his  will  may 
be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,  but  our  prayers 
will  not  be  answered  until  the  church  of  God  puts  its 
will  and  its  wealth  into  the  work  of  the  kingdom 
as  it  now  puts  its  will  and  its  wealth  into  the  work  of 
commerce  and  politics  and  art.  It  is  not  God's  will 
that  is  lacking  for  the  conversion  of  the  world;  our 
will  is  the  thing  that  is  needed.  Let  the  whole  church 
but  for  one  single  day  give  itself  absolutely  to  the  work 
and  service  of  God,  and  the  millennium  would  dawn, 
the  Jews  would  accept  their  long-rejected  Messiah,  and 
the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  would  be  gathered  in.  The 
rabbis  said :  "  If  Israel  repent  but  for  one  day,  the  Mes- 
siah will  come."  Let  the  church  say,  "  This  one  thing 
I  do,"  and  the  thing  will  be  done — the  kingdom  and 
the  dominion,  and  the  greatness  of  the  kingdoms  under 
the  whole  heaven,  shall  be  given  to  the  people  of  the 
saints  of  the  Most  High. 

My  whole  subject  is  summed  up  in  the  declaration 
that  there  is  no  Christian  character  or  Christian  attain- 


138  MISCELLANIES 

ment  that  does  not  involve  and  require  activity  of  the 
human  will.  We  are  essentially  wills ;  intellect  and 
affection  only  furnish  the  material  for  action;  it  is  the 
will  that  chooses  right  or  wrong.  The  beginning, 
middle,  and  end  of  religion  is  in  the  will.  If  the  Cal- 
vinist  had  only  recognized  that  we  are  to  work  out  our 
owii  salvation,  he  would  not  have  stopped  with  his 
contention  that  God  must  work  in  us  to  will  and  to  do. 
And  if  the  Arminian  had  only  recognized  that  there 
is  no  good  action  of  the  human  will  that  is  not  coin- 
cident with  and  dependent  upon  a  working  in  us  of  the 
divine  Spirit,  he  would  not  have  stopped  with  urging 
men  to  work  out  their  own  salvation.  The  pendulum 
has  swung  between  these  two  extremes  ever  since  the 
history  of  thought  began;  whole  systems  of  theology 
have  been  built  now  upon  divine  sovereignty  and  again 
upon  human  freedom ;  the  only  rational  conclusion  is 
that  both  are  true  and  must  be  embraced  in  our  creed, 
whether  we  can  understand  their  connection  or  not. 
Like  the  convex  and  the  concave  sides  of  a  curve,  like 
the  positive  and  negative  poles  of  the  magnet,  they  are 
mutually  dependent  and  equally  necessary.  Because 
God  works  in  us  to  will  and  to  do,  we  are  all  the  more 
to  work  out  our  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling. 
The  beginning  of  Christian  character  is  a  decision 
of  the  will.  I  will  henceforth  serve  God,  and  not  live 
for  myself.  That  is  the  A  B  C  of  religion.  The  man 
who  says  that  in  his  inmost  heart  is  a  Christian.  Not 
a  developed  Christian,  but  an  infantile  Christian.  He 
may  not  yet  know  how  great  his  sins  are,  nor  how 
helpless  he  is ;  he  may  not  yet  know  how  great  Christ 
is,  nor  how  vast  the  price  Christ  has  paid  for  his  re- 


THE    USE    OF    THE    WILL    IN    RELIGION  I39 

demption.  But  that  one  act  of  the  will  contains  in  it 
the  germ  of  Christianity,  and  it  will  develop  into  Chris- 
tian acting  and  living.  But  not  of  itself.  The  same 
Holy  Spirit  who  led  the  man  to  this  beginning  will 
guarantee  that  his  experience  has  a  middle  stage  also. 
Sanctification  and  perseverance  will  follow  conversion. 
The  will  of  man  will  be  called  on  to  decide  again  and 
again  whether  it  will  accept  and  ratify  the  will  of 
God.  When  Dewey  took  Manila,  the  Philippines  be- 
came ours,  but  the  subjection  of  the  outlying  provinces 
has  required  a  good  many  after-years  of  care  and  of 
fighting.  There  is  no  Christian  progress  except  by 
renewed  decisions  of  the  will,  new  renunciations  of  of- 
fered evil,  new  graspings  of  offered  good.  Character 
is  not  a  gift,  but  an  achievement,  and  it  is  only  he  that 
endures  to  the  end  that  is  saved. 

It  is  God  who  assures  the  end,  even  as  he  assured  the 
beginning  and  the  middle  of  our  experience.  Yet  im- 
mortality and  the  resurrection  body  are  as  much  de- 
pendent upon  our  own  wills  as  were  our  conversion 
and  our  growth  in  grace.  To  them  who  seek  for  glory 
and  honor  and  immortality  God  gives  eternal  life. 
All  who  want  heaven,  enough  to  will  heaven,  shall  have 
heaven.  "  In  your  patience  ye  shall  win  your  souls," 
says  Christ.  By  free  will  you  shall  get  possession 
of  your  own  being.  Losing  one's  soul  is  just  the  oppo- 
site, namely,  losing  one's  free  will,  by  disuse  renoun- 
cing freedom,  becoming  a  victim  of  habit,  nature,  cir- 
cumstance, and  this  is  the  cutting  off  and  annihila- 
tion of  true  manhood.  A  modern  novelist  has  said : 
"  To  be  in  hell  is  to  drift;  to  be  in  heaven  is  to  steer." 
In  heathen  fable,  men  were  turned  into  beasts,  and 


140  MISCELLANIES 

even  into  trees.  The  story  of  Circe  is  a  parable  of 
human  fate — men  may  become  apes,  tigers,  or  swine. 
They  may  lose  their  higher  powers  of  consciousness 
and  will.  All  life  that  is  worthy  of  the  name  may 
cease,  while  still  existence  of  a  low  animal  type  is  pro- 
longed. We  see  precisely  these  results  of  sin  in  this 
world.  We  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  same  laws 
of  development  will  operate  in  the  world  to  come. 
Death  is  not  degeneracy  ending  in  extinction,  nor 
punishment  ending  in  extinction — it  is  atavism  that  re- 
turns, or  tends  to  return,  to  the  animal  type.  As 
normal  development  is  from  the  brute  to  man,  so 
abnormal  development  is  from  man  to  the  brute.  And 
this  is  the  meaning  of  the  Scripture :  "  Man  that  is 
in  honor,  and  understandeth  not,  is  like  the  beasts 
that  perish." 

I  go  even  further  than  this,  and  maintain  that  Scrip- 
ture intimates  the  resurrection  body  to  be  the  product 
of  the  glorified  spirit,  the  effect  and  expression  of 
the  emancipated  will.  Body  is  in  continual  flux,  and 
this  continual  replacement  of  old  particles  by  new, 
while  the  spirit  continues  identical  and  supreme,  is 
evidence  that  this  same  spirit  may  animate  an  entirely 
new  body  in  the  life  to  come.  Body  is  plastic  in  God's 
hands,  and  matter  is  only  the  manifestation  of  his 
mind  and  will.  He  who  created  the  present  body  can 
create  another  better  suited  to  the  uses  of  the  spirit. 
The  soul  that  is  freed  from  the  thraldom  of  sin,  and 
has  entered  into  union  with  God,  will  attain  complete 
mastery  over  self  and  will  be  endowed  with  God's 
power,  even  over  nature,  so  that  it  can  take  to  itself 
the  material  needed  for  self-expression  just  as  the  rose- 


THE    USE    OF    THE    WILL    IN    RELIGION  I4I 

bush  takes  what  belongs  to  it.  Soul  determines  body, 
and  not  body  soul,  as  the  materialist  imagines.  As 
Jesus  laid  down  his  life  that  he  might  take  it  again,  so 
the  Christian  yields  up  his  spirit  in  death,  only  that 
he  may  win  a  larger  and  better  life.  As  Christ  raised 
up  the  temple  of  his  body  on  the  third  day,  so  the 
Christian  receives  power  from  God  to  construct  for 
himself  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the 
heavens.  And  the  final  triumph  of  the  purified  will  is 
its  subjection  of  the  flesh  to  the  spirit,  and  its  bringing 
both  body  and  soul  in  adoring  worship  to  the  feet  of 
the  Redeemer. 

On  this  Independence  Day  how  solemn  are  the  les- 
sons which  this  subject  teaches  us!  We  are  in  the 
midst  of  a  struggle  for  liberty.  Our  destiny  depends 
on  using  our  wills,  and  using  them  aright.  Once  to 
every  man,  as  well  as  to  every  nation,  comes  the  mo- 
ment to  decide  whether  he  will  be  a  freeman  or  a  slave. 
To  be  a  Christian,  a  son  of  God,  a  possessor  of  im- 
mortal life,  requires  a  decision  of  the  will  at  the  be- 
ginning, and  many  subsequent  decisions  all  along  our 
Christian  way.  But  in  making  that  initial  decision  we 
shall  find  that  God  is  already  working  in  us  to  will  and 
to  do,  and  every  after-decision  will  only  convince  us 
more  and  more  that  a  power  not  our  own  has  laid  hold 
of  us — a  power  to  break  the  chains  of  habit  and  to 
make  us  masters  of  ourselves.  Sluggishness  and  delay 
will  only  rivet  those  chains  and  make  it  harder  to 
secure  our  freedom.  On  this  great  day,  fraught  with 
so  many  memories  and  hopes,  let  us  sign  our  declara- 
tion of  independence  and  be  free  for  evermore ! 


XXIX 
REMOVING  MOUNTAINS ' 

The  greatest  picture  of  the  world  is  Raphael's  picture 
of  the  transfiguration.  This  supreme  place  has  been 
accorded  to  it  not  solely  on  account  of  its  artistic 
merits,  although  these  are  unquestionably  great.  It 
has  touched  the  universal  heart  rather  because  it  re- 
flects and  expresses  the  subconscious  and  inarticulate 
longings  of  humanity,  and  with  these  longings  has 
shown  also  the  true  and  all-sufficient  source  of  supply. 
No  work  of  art  can  be  truly  great  unless  it  somehow 
suggests  the  unseen  and  eternal.  This  work  more  per- 
fectly than  any  other  has  in  it  this  greatest  of  sugges- 
tions. The  picture  of  the  transfiguration  was  the 
last  work  of  Raphael,  and  it  was  the  consummate 
flower  of  his  genius.  At  his  funeral  in  the  Pantheon  at 
Rome  it  was  hung  over  his  coffin,  as  if  to  intimate  that 
the  spiritual  and  the  heavenly  had  been  the  chief  in- 
spiration of  the  painter's  life  and  work. 

In  this  picture  Raphael  has  tried  to  set  before  us  two 
separate  scenes;  scenes  so  far  apart  in  point  of  space 
that  to  put  them  upon  one  canvas  offends  our  sense 
of  congruity  until  we  recognize  the  bond  of  spiritual 
connection  between  them.  These  scenes  are  described 
in  quick  succession  in  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  Mat- 

^  A   sermon   preached   at   the   dedication   of   the    Calvary    Baptist    Chi:rch, 
Rochester,   N.   Y.,   May   18,    1910. 

142 


REMOVING    MOUNTAINS  143 

thew's  Gospel.  In  the  lower  part  of  the  picture  we  see 
the  foot  of  the  mountain  and  the  father  bringing 
to  the  apostles  his  epileptic  and  lunatic  son.  He  ap- 
peals to  them  to  cast  out  the  demon  that  possesses  him. 
They  do  their  utmost,  but  in  vain.  They  confess  their 
impotence,  and  can  only  point  the  despairing  father 
upward  to  the  top  of  the  mountain,  whither  Jesus 
their  Master  has  gone.  So  we  raise  our  eyes  to  the 
upper  part  of  the  picture.  There  the  Saviour  appears 
transfigured.  He  is  lifted  above  the  earth;  his  gar- 
ments shine  as  the  light;  Moses  and  Elijah,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  law  and  the  prophets,  summoned  from 
their  heavenly  habitations,  gaze  upward  into  his  face 
and  hold  converse  with  him;  all  authority  in  heaven 
and  in  earth  is  delivered  into  his  hand ;  in  him  is  purity 
and  power,  compassion  and  peace. 

The  two  events — the  piteous  supplication  of  the 
father  in  the  lower  half  of  the  canvas  and  the  glorifica- 
tion of  the  Lord  in  the  upper  half — are  both  occurring 
at  the  same  moment.  There  is  no  anachronism  in  put- 
ting them  together;  it  is  a  sort  of  anatopism  rather;  the 
painter  has  placed  within  our  view  two  scenes  which  no 
mortal  eye  could  have  witnessed  at  the  same  time.  But 
he  has  intimated  that  moral  and  religious  relations 
transcend  space  and  time.  Raphael  had  the  insight  of 
true  genius.  His  picture  is  the  greatest  picture  of  the 
world  just  because  he  saw  beneath  the  surface  of  things 
to  the  innermost  secret  of  them.  The  convulsions  of 
the  demoniac  boy  and  the  agony  depicted  upon  the 
father's  face  are  only  symbols  of  the  suffering  and  the 
helplessness  of  a  lost  humanity.  The  Son  of  man,  who 
is  also   Son  of  God,   from   whom  shines   forth  such 


144  MISCELLANIES 

radiancy  of  glory  and  who  draws  toward  himself  the 
homage  of  both  dead  and  living  saints,  is  the  symbol 
of  Christ's  power  to  redeem  and  bless.  It  is  a  picture 
of  paradise  lost  and  of  paradise  regained;  a  picture  of 
humanity  under  the  bondage  and  curse  of  sin,  and  of 
humanity  exalted  to  be  the  dwelling-place  of  God; 
a  picture  of  the  impotence  of  man  and  of  the  power  of 
Christ. 

We  remember  the  conversation  between  Jesus  and 
the  disciples,  after  he  had  come  down  from  the  moun- 
tain and  had  cast  out  the  demon.  They  innocently 
asked  the  Lord:  "  Why  could  not  w-e  cast  him  out?  " 
He  tells  them  that  it  was  because  of  their  unbelief. 
Then  follows  one  of  his  most  remarkable  utterances. 
To  him  who  truly  believes,  nothing  shall  be  impossible. 
"  If  ye  have  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  ye  shall 
say  to  this  mountain,  Be  thou  removed,  and  be  thou 
cast  into  the  sea,  and  it  shall  obey  you."  Here  is  a 
great  subject  suggested,  namely,  removing  moun- 
tains. I  take  this  for  the  subject  of  my  sermon. 
Let  us  consider  it ;  and,  in  order  to  do  this,  let  us  ask, 
first.  What  mountains  are  these?  secondly,  Wbo  re- 
moves the  mountains  ?  and  thirdly.  How  are  the  moun- 
tains removed? 

First,  then.  What  mountains  arc  these?  I  think 
we  must  grant  that  they  are  not  physical  mountains 
of  earth  and  rock,  lifting  their  summits  into  the  sky, 
and  barring  one  community  from  another.  There  was 
a  child  who  held  to  this  idea.  She  lived  at  the  foot  of 
a  mountain  in  Germany.  She  had  heard  the  German 
proverb :  ""  Hinter  dent  Bcrge  sind  aitch  Leute  (Behind 
the  mountain  too,  there  are  people  living),"  and  she 


REMOVING    MOUNTAINS  145 

wished  to  see  them.  When  she  knelt  by  her  bed  to 
say  her  evening  prayer,  she  prayed  the  good  God 
during  the  night  to  take  away  the  mountain.  In  the 
morning  she  rose,  confidently  expecting  that  the  moun- 
tain would  be  no  longer  there.  She  lifted  her  cur- 
tain, but  what  was  the  shock  and  disappointment  to 
her  childish  faith  to  find  that  the  mountain  had  not 
budged  an  inch — there  it  still  stood,  and  the  people 
behind  it  were  no  more  visible  than  before.  If  she 
had  thought  more  deeply  upon  Christ's  words  and  had 
remembered  in  what  connection  he  used  them,  she 
might  have  saved  herself  this  disappointment,  for  no- 
where do  we  find  that  either  Jesus  or  his  apostles  re- 
moved physical  mountains.  The  connection  in  which 
the  promise  of  Christ  occurs  suggests  that  it  is  more 
spiritual  wonders,  like  the  healing  of  the  demoniac,  that 
he  has  in  mind. 

We  ought  not  to  doubt  Christ's  power  to  work  in 
nature,  as  he  did  when  he  stilled  the  tempest  and  cursed 
the  barren  fig  tree.  He  can  answer  prayer  for  rain, 
when  the  earth  is  parched  and  the  cattle  are  dying.  He 
can  answer  prayer  for  healing,  by  giving  new  courage 
to  the  desponding  patient  and  new  skill  to  the  minister- 
ing physician.  And  perhaps  we  ought  to  expect  more 
at  his  hands  in  these  semi-physical  ways  than  we  have 
been  accustomed  to  believe.  Still  these  are  not  the 
wonders  which  he  prefers  to  work,  nor  are  they  the 
wonders  most  characteristic  of  the  new  dispensation. 
Old  Testament  miracles  were  mainly  miracles  in  na- 
ture. But  Pentecost  is  the  type  of  New  Testament 
wonders.  The  regeneration  of  the  human  spirit  and 
the  filling  of  it  \\ath  the  fulness  of  God, — these  are 

K 


146  MISCELLANIES 

greater  proofs  of  divine  power  than  was  the  walking 
of  Jesus  on  the  sea.  In  the  history  of  revelation  the 
whole  tendency  is  from  the  outward  to  the  inward, 
from  the  physical  to  the  spiritual.  And  so,  in  general, 
I  think  we  may  say  that  the  mountains  which  Christ 
has  in  mind  are  those  seemingly  insuperable  spiritual 
obstacles  which  stand  in  the  way  of  the  setting  up  or 
the  progress  of  his  kingdom. 

There  are  mountains  of  sin  in  ourselves.  These 
separate  us  from  God  and  hide  from  us  the  light  of  his 
countenance.  Some  villages  in  Switzerland  are  built 
in  valleys  so  narrow  that  the  sun  does  not  rise  upon 
them  till  toward  noon,  and  it  has  hardly  risen  before 
it  begins  to  set.  Some  Christians  in  like  manner  enjoy 
only  brief  intervals  of  God's  presence.  Great  masses 
of  sin  hem  them  in.  They  know  little  of  communion 
with  Christ.  Transgressions  long  indulged  press  with 
mountain  weight  upon  their  hearts.  Their  religion  is 
one  of  fear  more  than  of  love.  Like  the  inhabitants  of 
those  Swiss  valleys,  their  faces  are  pallid  and  they  are 
afflicted  with  those  peculiar  diseases  which  are  incident 
to  deprivation  of  the  sun.  How  great  a  revelation 
it  ought  to  be  to  such  that  Christ  can  come  over  these 
mountains  of  our  sins,  can  remove  them,  and  so  can 
save  us  from  ourselves! 

What  an  illustration  of  this  we  have  in  Augustine, 
the  great  church  Father!  In  his  early  life  he  was 
so  enamored  of  his  sensual  sins  that  he  thought  he 
could  never  give  them  up;  they  were  dear  to  him  as 
life  itself,  and  he  had  no  power  to  renounce  them.  But 
one  day  he  heard  the  voice :  "  Put  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  make  no  provision  for  the  flesh,  to  fulfil  the 


REMOVING    MOUNTAINS  147 

lusts  thereof."  He  obeyed  the  voice,  he  gave  himself 
to  Christ,  and  behold!  the  mountains  were  gone,  and 
he  learned  to  live  a  life  of  purity  such  as  he  had  never 
dreamed  to  be  possible.  It  was  a  fulfilment  of  the 
words  of  the  prophet:  "  I  am  against  thee,  O  destroy- 
ing mountain,  which  destroyest  all  the  earth;  and  I 
will  stretch  out  my  hand  upon  thee,  and  will  roll  thee 
down  from  the  rocks,  and  will  make  thee  a  burnt 
mountain,  saith  the  Lord." 

These  mountains  are  not  only  mountains  of  sin  in 
ourselves,  but  also  mountains  of  unbelief  in  the  church. 
When  we  have  gotten  rid  of  our  own  transgressions, 
we  find  that  we  have  not  carried  our  brethren  with  us. 
We  are  pickets  of  an  advanced  guard,  a  slender  out- 
lying column,  destined  to  sure  defeat  unless  we  can 
have  reenforcements.  Then  the  great  question  is 
whether  we  can  stir  up  faith  and  zeal  in  others.  Oh, 
how  mountainous  seem  the  lassitude,  the  ignorance,  the 
cowardice  of  the  church  at  large !  Gideon  would  have 
been  disheartened  when  his  thirty-two  thousand  dwin- 
dled down  to  three  hundred,  if  God  had  not  shown 
him  that  it  w'as  his  pleasure  to  save  Israel  not  by  many, 
but  by  few.  Jesus  would  have  been  disheartened  in 
that  period  of  general  doubt  and  disaffection  when  the 
multitude  departed  from  him  if  he  had  not  seen  that 
one  believing  and  confessing  Peter  was  worth  more 
than  the  physical  presence  of  all  unbelieving  Israel. 
"  Will  ye  also  go  away?  "  he  said  to  his  disciples.  The 
answer  was  reassuring :  "  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ? 
Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life."  He  knew  that 
one  grain  of  such  faith  as  this  could  work  wonders, 
and  he  answered  Peter's  confession  by  saying :  "  Thou 


148  MISCELLANIES 

art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  [the  rock  of  Christian 
belief  and  confession]  will  I  build  my  church,  and  the 
gates  of  hell  shall  not 'prevail  against  it."  Mountains 
of  unbelief  in  the  church?  Yes,  but  faith  can  over- 
come them.  They  told  Napoleon  that. the  Alps  were 
in  his  way,  and  that  he  could  never  conquer  Italy. 
"  The  Alps?  "  said  he;  "  there  shall  be  no  Alps!  "  So 
Christian  faith  removes  the  mountains  of  unbelief  in 
the  church  which  stand  in  the  way  of  Christ's  con- 
quests. 

Mountains  of  sin  in  ourselves!  mountains  of  unbe- 
lief in  the  church!  but  these  are  not  all.  There  are 
also  mountains  of  opposition  in  the  world.  Think  of 
the  great  world-powers  of  the  past — the  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical despotisms  of  the  earth.  Scripture  calls  these 
the  "  mountains  of  prey,"  even  as  the  kingdom  of  God 
is  called  a  "  holy  mountain."  There  have  been  great 
corrupt,  devouring  monarchies,  like  the  Roman  Empire 
and  the  Roman  hierarchy;  heathen  religions,  with  their 
antiquity,  their  riches,  their  pride,  their  superstition, 
their  diabolism;  State  churches,  thinking  they  were 
doing  God  service  by  persecuting  the  saints  of  God 
and  harrying  them  out  of  their  kingdoms;  Mammon, 
forbidding  missions  to  India,  and  silencing  preachers 
of  righteousness  at  home.  And  yet  faith  as  a  grain 
of  mustard-seed  has  removed  all  these  mountains.  We 
saw  Satan  like  lightning  fall  from  heaven  when  the 
power  of  the  Ring  was  broken  in  Philadelphia  and 
Cincinnati,  and  the  enemies  of  municipal  reform  saw 
light  shining  in  upon  their  deeds  of  darkness.  The 
mountains  of  opposition  in  the  world  have  flowed 
down  at  Christ's  presence,  and  the  last  of  these  moun- 


REMOV^ING    MOUNTAINS  149 

tains  shall  be  made  low  and  shall  be  made  a  highway 
for  the  chariot  wheels  of  our  King,  if  the  church  only 
has  the  grain  of  faith  of  which  Jesus  speaks.  So  we 
answer  our  first  question,  Wliat  are  these  mountains? 
by  saying:  They  are  mountains  of  sin  in  ourselves, 
mountains  of  unbelief  in  the  church,  and  mountains  of 
opposition  in  the  world. 

Our  second  question  is  equally  important:  IVIw  re- 
moves these  iiiQuntains?  And  here  the  answer  is,  Christ 
alone.  Only  he  can  remove  them  who  setteth  fast  the 
mountains,  being  girded  wnth  power.  Only  he  can  re- 
move them,  through  whom  and  for  whom  all  things 
have  been  created,  and  in  whom  all  things  consist  or 
hold  together.  Only  he  can  remove  them  who  upholds 
all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power.  But  all  these  things 
are  written  of  Christ.  It  is  he  who  has  weighed  the 
mountains  in  scales  and  the  hills  in  a  balance,  and  he 
can  thresh  the  mountains  and  turn  them  into  fine  dust 
which  the  slightest  breath  can  blow  away.  And  yet 
we  must  remember  that  all  this  material  imagery  repre- 
sents a  spiritual  reality.  As  the  mountains  to  be  re- 
moved are  spiritual  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  Christ's 
kingdom,  so  the  power  that  removes  them  is  not  phys- 
ical, but  only  spiritual  power.  The  weapons  of  our 
warfare  are  not  carnal,  they  are  mighty  through  God 
to  the  pulling  down  of  strongholds.  Over  against  the 
mountainous  obstacles  of  sin  in  ourselves,  of  unbelief 
in  the  church,  and  of  opposition  in  the  world,  there 
stands  a  power  greater  than  they  all,  the  unwearied 
spiritual  energy  of  the  omnipotent  Christ.  We  can  do 
nothing  of  ourselves,  but  we  can  do  all  things  through 
him  who  strengtheneth  us.     Only  as  we  are  joined  to 


150  MISCELLANIES 

him  and  become  partakers  of  his  power,  can  we  ever 
remove  mountains. 

But  we  can  be  joined  to  Christ  in  three  ways.  We 
can  come  to  know  the  mind  of  Christ.  He  has  made 
provision  for  this.  "  The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with 
them  that  fear  him."  There  is  a  disclosure  of  his  pur- 
poses to  those  who  obey  him.  All  who  follow  the 
Lamb  have  some  part  in  his  work  of  loosing  the  seals 
and  reading  the  book  of  God's  decrees.  Jesus  tells 
us  that  he  has  not  called  us  servants,  but  friends;  for 
the  servant  knoweth  not  what  his  Lord  doeth.  The 
implication  is  that  the  friend  of  Christ  does  have 
some  inkling  of  the  purpose  of  his  Lord.  There  is  a 
prophetic  element  in  the  Christian.  Because  Christ  is 
in  him  he  is  to  some  extent  qualified,  as  the  worldling 
is  not,  to  understand  the  meaning  of  events,  to  judge 
what  Israel  ought  to  do.  If  the  pastor  is  a  deeply 
spiritual  man,  great  regard  should  be  paid  to  his  con- 
victions as  to  the  work  and  policy  of  the  church,  as 
well  as  to  his  interpretations  of  Scripture.  Knowing 
the  mind  of  Christ  is  very  essential  in  removing  the 
mountains  of  debt,  the  mountains  of  worldliness,  the 
mountains  of  quarrelsomeness,  the  mountains  of  per- 
sonal pride  and  ambition  and  tyranny,  which  stand  in 
the  way  of  many  a  church's  prosperity. 

Removing  mountains  requires  that  we  not  only 
come  to  know  the  mind  of  Christ,  but  that  we  become 
possessed  of  the  love  of  Christ.  This  love  of  Christ 
which  constrains  us  is  not  our  love  to  Christ,  for  that 
is  weak  and  faint,  nor  yet  Christ's  love  to  us,  for  that 
is  still  something  outside  of  us,  but  rather  Christ's 
love  in  us — Christ's  love  overflowing  into  us  who  are 


REMOVING    MOUNTAINS  I5I 

joined  to  him  and  possessed  by  his  Spirit.  When  we 
tap  the  infinite  reservoir  of  Christ's  love,  and  get  him 
dwelHng  and  loving  within  us,  then  we  begin  to  have 
something  of  the  power  that  removes  mountains.  For 
only  the  love  of  Christ  within  us  can  give  us  eyes  to 
understand  the  truth  or  strength  to  apply  it. 

We  must  come  to  know  the  mind  of  Christ;  we 
must  be  possessed  by  the  love  of  Christ;  but,  yet 
further,  we  must  be  surrendered  to  the  will  of  Christ. 
He  will  not  remove  mountains  simply  to  please  us. 
We  shall  remove  mountains  only  as  we  seek  to  please 
him.  We  often  seek  power,  and  fail  to  receive  it, 
simply  because  we  wish  to  use  God,  instead  of  having 
him  use  us.  We  ask  and  receive  not,  because  we  ask 
amiss,  that  we  may  consume  it  upon  our  lusts.  Prayer 
is  answered  only  as  the  essence  of  it  is,  "  Thy  will  be 
done."  When  we  aim  only  to  exalt  Christ  and  to  serve 
his  purpose,  we  have  a  right  to  expect  that  he  will  fill 
us  with  the  good  pleasure  of  his  goodness,  and  will 
complete  the  work  of  faith  with  power.  There  are 
doubtless  limits  w'hich  our  finiteness  imposes  on  the 
infinite  One.  But  surely  something  great  must  be 
meant  by  his  assurance,  as  he  referred  to  the  miracles 
wrought  by  him  during  his  earthly  life :  "  Greater 
things  than  these  shall  ye  do,  because  I  go  to  the 
Father." 

We  have  seen  what  mountains  these  are  that  are 
removed.  We  have  seen  who  it  is  that  removes  moun- 
tains, namely,  Jesus  Christ  alone.  But  there  is  a  last 
question  still  unanswered:  Hozv  are  the  mountains 
removed?  And  the  answer  is.  By  faith.  "  If  ye  have 
faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  ye  shall  say  to  this 


152  MISCELLANIES 

mountain,  Be  thou  removed,  and  be  thou  cast  into  the 
sea,  and  it  shall  obey  you."  And  why  by  faith?  Sim- 
ply because  faith  is  the  link  of  connection  between  us 
and  Christ. 

The  beggar's  hand  that  takes  the  proffered  coin  has 
no  merit,  nor  has  it  any  particular  power;  but  it  is 
needed  to  receive  the  gift.  Faith  is  the  poor  hand  that 
lays  hold  of  Christ,  the  treasure  of  the  soul.  .  .  The 
coupling  that  binds  the  train  to  the  locomotive  seems 
a  very  insignificant  thing,  and  it  surely  has  in  itself  no 
power  to  draw  the  train.  Yet  without  it  the  locomotive 
would  be  useless  and  the  cars  would  stand  idly  on  the 
track.  Faith  is  the  coupling  that  unites  us  to  Jesus 
Christ,  and  gives  us  the  benefit  of  all  his  life  and 
power.  Of  itself  it  accomplishes  nothing;  joining  us 
to  Christ,  it  enables  us  to  do  all  that  Christ  himself 
could  do,  so  that  to  faith  nothing  is  impossible.  .  . 
The  trolley,  that  connects  the  car  with  the  wire  and 
the  electric  current  and  the  dynamo  at  the  power-house, 
has  no  power  of  its  own ;  but,  as  a  conductor  of  power, 
it  is  indispensable.  Faith  is  the  trolley  that  brings  us 
into  living  connection  with  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the 
head  of  all  principalities  and  power,  and  who  through 
this  faith  communicates  his  power  to  us.  We  may 
be  cold  and  dark  and  immovable  as  a  car  upon  the 
track  on  a  winter's  night.  Put  up  the  trolley  of  faith, 
and  the  cold,  dark,  dead  Christian  shows  warmth  and 
glow,  and  begins  once  more  to  move  on  in  the  Chris- 
tian way;  nay,  he  can  even  make  the  mountains  as 
if  they  were  not,  and  can  ride  over  them  as  if  they 
were  a  plain. 

Notice  here  that  the  divine  agency  does  not  exclude 


REMOVING    MOUNTAINS  153 

the  human.  We  must  pray  and  we  must  work,  if  the 
mountains  are  to  be  made  low.  "  The  sword  of  the 
Lord?  "  Yes ;  but-  "  the  sword  of  Gideon,"  also.  Nor 
does  the  divine  agency  all  go  before  the  human.  At 
times  we  must  go  before  God.  Saying  to  this  moun- 
tain, "  Be  thou  removed,"  surely  precedes  the  removal. 
The  rolling  away  of  the  stone  on  the  part  of  the  dis- 
ciples precedes  the  putting  forth  of  Christ's  power  in 
the  raising  of  Lazarus  from  the  dead.  At  times  we 
must  follow  God.  Moses  must  smite  the  rock  just 
where  and  just  as  often  as  God  bids  him.  Joshua  must 
proceed  in  his  work  of  conquering  Palestine  just  as 
fast  and  as  far  as  the  Captain  of  the  Lord's  host  leads 
the  way. 

The  truth  is  that  the  faith  that  removes  mountains  is 
the  gift  of  God.  To  say  that  the  divine  agency  does 
not  exclude  the  human,  and  to  say  that  it  does  not  all 
go  before  the  human,  is  to  say  only  a  part  of  the  truth. 
The  more  comprehensive  doctrine  is  that  the  divine 
agency  works  in  the  human.  Work  out  your  own  salva- 
tion with  fear  and  trembling,  for  it  is  already  God  that 
worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  work,  for  his  good 
pleasure.  The  very  willing  and  working  are  evidences 
of  the  presence  of  him  who  removes  the  mountains. 
The  grain  of  mustard-seed  is  the  least  of  all  seeds,  but 
it  has  in  it  the  life  and  power  of  the  omnipresent  God. 
And  the  grain  of  mustard-seed  is  the  symbol  of  faith. 
The  least  of  it  is  precious,  for  it  joins  the  Christian  to 
Christ,  and  is  proof  that  Christ  is  his,  and  that  with 
Christ  all  things  are  his  also.  Have  you  this  faith? 
Then  you  are  blessed.  You  shall  be  more  than  con- 
queror through  him  that  loves  you;  and  as  for  the 


154 


MISCELLANIES 


mountain  that  stands  in  your  way,  you  may  hear  as 
did  one  of  old :  "  Who  art  thou,  O  great  mountain  ? 
Before  Zerubbabel  thou  shalt  become  a  plain," 

So  we  have  seen  what  mountains  these  are,  namely, 
mountains  of  sin  in  ourselves,  mountains  of  unbelief  in 
the  church,  mountains  of  opposition  in  the  world; 
who  it  is  that  removes  the  mountains,  namely,  Christ 
alone,  and  he  who  has  come  to  know  the  mind  of 
Christ,  to  be  possessed  of  his  love,  and  to  be  sur- 
rendered to  his  will;  how  the  mountains  are  to  be 
removed,  namely,  by  the  faith  that  joins  us  to  Christ 
and  makes  us  partakers  of  his  life  and  power. 

There  are  two  practical  remarks  with  which  I  may 
close  this  sermon.  The  first  of  them  is  this :  It  is  the 
duty  of  every  Christian  to  remove  some  mountains. 
And  that  for  the  reason  that  there  are  some  things 
which  God  has  declared  it  to  be  his  will  that  we  should 
remove.  Surely  this  is  true  of  the  mountain  of  our 
own  sin.  This  is  the  will  of  God,  even  our  sanctifica- 
tion,  and  every  obstacle  in  ourselves  that  stands  in  the 
way  can  be  made  to  vanish,  if  we  will  only  have  faith 
in  God.  With  regard  to  our  weakness  and  unbelief, 
it  is  equally  true  that  the  removal  of  them  is  a  duty. 
We  may  be  as  unequal  to  the  task  as  was  that  man 
with  the  withered  hand.  Yet  it  is  ours  to  stretch  forth 
the  hand,  withered  as  it  is,  and  in  so  doing  God  will 
give  strength  and  make  it  whole. 

After  we  have  done  one  duty  of  this  sort,  we  shall 
find  ourselves  face  to  face  with  another ;  for,  as  George 
Eliot  has  said,  the  reward  of  a  duty  done  is  the  power 
to  do  another.  The  Christian  shall  be  led  on  from 
strength  to  strength,  until  his  faith  is  equal  to  great 


REMOVING    MOUNTAINS  155 

exigencies.  He  shall  know  that  wrestling  of  Jacob 
which  turns  him  into  an  Israel,  so  that  he  has  power 
with  God  and  man  and  prevails.  There  is  an  agony  of 
supplication  in  which  we  are  conscious  that  it  is  not  we 
alone  who  are  praying,  but  that  the  Holy  Spirit  makes 
intercession  with  us  with  groanings  that  cannot  be  ut- 
tered. There  is  a  faith,  born  of  such  conflicts,  which  is 
the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  conviction  of 
things  not  seen,  that  grasps  the  promised  good,  knows 
it  is  God's  will  to  grant  it,  and  so  seizes  the  triumph 
from  afar.  That  faith  we  cannot  summon  up  by  any 
art  or  effort  of  ours;  it  is  the  gift  of  God.  But  they 
who  live  nearest  to  God  are  most  apt  to  receive  it. 
The  sluggish  and  disobedient  Christian  may  know 
nothing  of  it.  The  aged  saint  who,  like  Simeon  and 
Anna  of  old,  can  only  pray  and  wait,  may  yet  in  the 
closet  wield  a  power  greater  than  that  of  the  kings  of 
the  earth;  yes,  he  may  say  to  this  mountain,  *'  Be  thou 
removed,  and  be  thou  cast  into  the  sea,  and  it  shall 
obey."  When  the  secret  things  are  revealed  at  last, 
it  shall  be  found  that  the  word  that  broke  the  power  of 
Rome,  and  that  opened  China  to  the  gospel,  and  that 
brought  the  wealth  of  the  world  into  Christ's  treasury, 
was  not  the  word  of  any  earthly  potentate  or  million- 
aire, but  rather  the  word  of  some  humble  believer,  who 
joined  himself  to  Christ  and  made  himself  possessor  of 
Christ's  power.  We  may  be  very  far  as  yet  from 
having  such  faith  as  this.  But  we  can  at  least  give 
ourselves  to  Christ  and  begin  by  removing  the  moun- 
tain of  sin  and  unbelief  that  lies  right  before  us. 

And  the  last  remark  is  this :  What  mountains  are 
to  be  removed  we  may  leave  to  God.    Wherein  we  are 


156  MISCELLANIES 

Otherwise  minded  than  he  would  approve,  he  will  him- 
self reveal  to  us.  He  will  show  us  what  we  are  to  do. 
"  If  we  abide  in  him,  and  his  words  abide  in  us,  we 
shall  ask  what  we  will,  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  us." 
It  is  a  great  thing  to  be  thus  used  by  God — the  greatest 
honor,  indeed,  that  can  be  given  to  a  mortal.  Man  is 
great  only  as  he  receives  God,  and  faith  is  this  recep- 
tion of  God.  We  are  very  weak  and  insignificant  in 
ourselves.  Only  as  God  enters  into  us  and  possesses 
us  have  we  any  dignity  in  the  creation.  Since  faith 
is  the  one  organ  for  receiving  Christ  into  our  souls, 
we  are  great  just  so  far  and  only  so  far  as  we  are 
great  believers.  Let  this  then  be  our  ambition,  to  be 
great  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  to  be  rationally  and 
essentially  great,  by  having  great  faith.  This  is  the  one 
need  of  the  individual  Christian,  of  the  ministers  of 
Christ,  and  of  the  members  of  the  Christian  church, 
and  our  one  prayer  should  be :  "  Lord,  increase  our 
faith !  " 

For  before  this  faith  every  mountainous  obstacle 
that  stands  in  the  way  of  Christ's  cause  shall  disap- 
pear; by  conversion  or  by  death  the  wicked  who  oppose 
the  truth  shall  be  removed ;  the  falsehood  and  delusion 
which  prevent  the  access  of  truth  shall  vanish  like  mists 
before  the  sun.  Faith  may  not  be  the  greatest  of  the 
Christian  graces,  but  it  is  certainly  the  first,  and  it 
opens  the  way  for  all  the  others.  True  it  is  that,  if  I 
have  all  faith  so  as  to  remove  mountains  and  have  not 
love,  I  am  nothing.  But  this  is  only  a  hypothetical 
case.  The  true  faith  that  removes  mountains  is  not 
separated  from  love ;  it  rather  works  by  love,  and  puri- 
fies the  heart.     And,  therefore,  faith  is  God's  measure 


REMOVING    MOUNTAINS  157 

of  a  man.  and  we  are  bidden  "  not  to  think  of  ourselves 
more  highly  than  we  ought  to  think,  but  to  think 
soberly,  according  as  God  has  dealt  to  each  man  a 
measure  of  faith." 

Yet,  after  all,  Christ  himself  is  our  best  model.  It 
was  a  great  day  for  me  when  I  saw  for  the  first  time 
that  Christ  is  the  leader  and  example,  as  well  as  the 
perfecter,  of  faith,  and  that  it  is  by  looking  to  him  as 
our  pattern  that  we  are  to  run  our  race  and  to  win  our 
crown.  He  walked  by  faith,  and  not  by  sight.  It  was 
because  his  faith  never  failed  that  he  was  enabled  to 
work  his  miracles.  He  could  walk  the  waves  of  the 
sea,  could  multiply  the  loaves,  and  could  raise  the  dead, 
because  he  w^as  consciously  at  one  with  the  mind  and 
heart  and  purpose  of  God.  As  his  faith  joined  him  to 
the  Father,  so  our  faith  may  join  us  to  him.  As  his 
faith  endowed  him  with  the  power  of  God,  so  our 
faith  may  endue  us  with  the  power  of  Christ. 

In  Raphael's  picture  of  the  transfiguration  the 
mountain  is  removed.  So  far  as  the  spectator  is  con- 
cerned, the  disciples  and  Christ  are  brought  together. 
What  had  been  their  difficulty  in  curing  the  lunatic 
boy?  They  were  not  in  close  touch  with  Christ.  The 
mountain  was  in  their  w^ay.  Raphael  has  shown  what 
faith  can  do  to  cast  the  mountain  into  the  sea,  and  to 
make  it  as  if  it  were  not.  I  am  not  sure  that  this 
mountain  which  had  been  between  him  and  his  dis- 
ciples did  not  suggest  to  our  Lord  the  words  of  his 
great  promise.  There  is  no  mountain  but  the  moun- 
tain that  separates  us  from  Christ.  "  With  him,"  says 
Spurgeon,  "  I  can  create  a  world.  Without  him  I 
can  do  absolutely  nothing." 


158  MISCELLANIES 

The  least  faith  is  precious,  because  it  brings  us  into 
connection  with  him  who  is  the  source  of  all  life  and 
energy.  But  there  are  kinds  of  faith  and  degrees  of 
faith.  For  every  member  of  Christ's  church  I  would 
ask  three  gifts :  First,  that  his  faith  fail  not ;  secondly, 
that  his  faith  may  continually  grow;  thirdly,  that  his 
faith  may  remove  mountains — the  mountains  of  sin 
in  his  own  heart,  the  mountains  of  unbelief  in  the 
church,  the  mountains  of  opposition  in  the  world ;  but, 
above  all,  that  one  mountain  that  includes  them  all,  the 
mountain  of  separation  from  Christ. 


XXX 

CITIZENSHIP  IN  HEAVEN ' 

King  James'  version  translated  this  text  in  a  different 
way.  There  it  reads :  "  Our  conversation  is  in  heaven." 
But  the  word  "  conversation  "  meant  more  than  "  dis- 
course," or  "interchange  of  talk";  it  meant  "the 
whole  manner  of  life,"  so  that  the  verse  might  have 
read :  "  Our  whole  manner  of  life  is  in  heaven."  Even 
this,  however,  does  not  fully  express  the  meaning  of 
the  original.  That  contains  a  reference  to  political 
relations — relations  to  the  government  or  State.  Our 
Revised  version  has  in  the  margin  the  word  "  com- 
monwealth," but,  better  still,  puts  into  the  text  the 
word  "  citizenship,"  so  that  it  reads :  "  Our  citizen- 
ship is  in  heaven." 

The  Philippians,  to  whom  Paul  wrote,  prided  them- 
selves on  their  Roman  citizenship.  They  possessed 
the  jus  Italicnm,  with  all  its  privileges.  Rome  had  con- 
quered them,  but  then  it  had  made  them  Romans,  and 
to  be  a  Roman  was  to  be  greater  than  a  king.  Peace, 
order,  stability,  security  for  life  and  property,  belonged 
to  those  who  were  citizens  of  Rome.  Paul  found  in 
his  Roman  citizenship  no  small  protection.  It  brought 
the  magistrates  to  his  feet  after  his  unjust  scourging 
and  imprisonment,  and  the  memory  of  their  discom- 

1  A  sermon  preached  in  the  Congregational  Church,   Canandaigua,   N.   Y., 
on  the  text,  Phil.  3:  20:  "  Our  citizenship  is  in  heaven,"  May  26,  1907. 


l6o  MISCELLANIES 

fiture  probably  saved  the  infant  church  in  Philippi  from 
persecution.  Paul's  Roman  citizenship  afterward  pro- 
cured his  own  release  from  scourging  at  Jerusalem, 
and  it  made  possible  his  final  appeal  to  Caesar. 

Paul  valued  his  earthly  citizenship,  and  he  made  the 
most  of  it.  But  then  he  perceived  its  limitations.  It 
had  brought  him  to  Rome,  but  thus  far  only  to  a 
Roman  prison.  He  was  waiting  for  the  emperor's 
decision.  An  emperor  like  Nero  was  by  no  means  a 
just  judge.  Extortion  and  oppression  were  rife  under 
his  administration.  The  spoils  of  the  provinces  and 
the  slaves  brought  in  from  subjugated  lands  furnished 
the  means  of  unprecedented  corruption.  Nero  used 
his  power  not  in  the  interest  of  his  subjects,  but  only 
to  gratify  a  preternatural  vanity  and  to  minister  to 
the  basest  pleasures.  The  splendors  of  Roman  rule 
did  not  prevent  Vergil  from  longing  for  a  return  of  the 
golden  age,  nor  did  they  blind  our  apostle  to  the  need 
of  another  kingdom  of  genuine  righteousness  and  peace 
and  joy.  Indeed,  we  may  say  that  the  very  bars  of 
Paul's  dungeon  and  the  chain  which  bound  him  to  the 
soldier  by  his  side  suggested  to  him  another  common- 
wealth and  another  citizenship  in  which  he  gloried  far 
more  than  he  gloried  in  the  commonwealth  and  citizen- 
ship of  Rome.  "  Our  citizenship,"  he  says,  "  is  in 
heaven."  Let  us  ask  for  a  moment  how  this  common- 
wealth is  constituted,  in  what  sense  it  is  in  heaven,  and 
what  citizenship  in  it  involves. 

First,  then,  as  to  the  constitution  of  this  common- 
wealth. Evidently  the  most  important  thing  to  be 
observed  is  that  there  is  a  king.  "  Ohne  Kaiser,  keiri 
Reich  "  was  the  maxim  of  Bismarck :  "  Without  an 


CITIZENSHIP    IN    HEAVEN  l6l 

emperor  there  can  be  no  empire."  This  is  especially 
true  of  the  heavenly  kingdom.  As  well  think  of  a  solar 
system  without  a  sun,  as  think  of  a  heavenly  citizen- 
ship without  ruler  or  lord.  And  who  this  ruler  and 
lord  is,  Paul  learned  on  the  way  to  Damascus,  when  a 
light  shone  upon  him  above  the  brightness  of  the  sun, 
and  the  glory  of  God  streamed  forth  from  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ.  From  that  moment  the  apostle  saw  in 
Christ  God  revealed.  The  crucified  Saviour  was  the 
truest  manifestation  of  the  Father,  and  was  exalted 
to  be  Lord  of  all.  Here  was  the  King  of  kings  and 
Lord  of  lords,  lifted  above  all  the  limitations  of  space 
and  time,  filling  and  governing  the  whole  universe. 
Rome  is  great;  but,  after  all,  its  empire  is  confined  to 
this  earth  and  to  the  present  time.  Christ's  empire  em- 
braces all  the  worlds  and  all  the  ages.  The  empire  of 
Caesar  is  nothing  to  the  empire  of  Christ. 

Wherever  there  is  a  king  there  is  also  a  law,  and 
the  law  requires  allegiance  or  conformity  to  the  will 
of  the  sovereign.  The  law  of  Christ's  kingdom  is  a 
law  of  righteousness,  far  more  binding  than  that  of 
Nero.  It  is  a  law  of  love,  very  different  from  the  ex- 
ternalism  and  compulsion  of  the  law  of  Moses.  It  is 
the  law  of  a  King  who  does  not,  like  Nero,  hold  him- 
self aloof  in  order  to  be  served  by  others,  but  who  comes 
down  to  the  low  estate  of  his  subjects,  to  feel  for  them 
and  to  suffer  with  them.  When  the  Scripture  says, 
"  He  ascended,"  what  does  it  mean,  "  but  that  he  also 
descended  into  the  lower  parts  of  the  earth  "  ?  And 
now  he  who  came  down  so  low,  to  save  us,  has  "  as- 
cended far  above  all  the  heavens,  that  he  might  fill  all 
things."    He  is  everywhere  present,  everywhere  work- 

L 


l62  MISCELLANIES 

ing,  everywhere  sympathizing,  everywhere  accessible, 
everywhere  serving,  binding  together  the  highest  and 
the  lowest  rounds  of  the  social  ladder,  seating  each  sub- 
ject with  himself  upon  his  throne,  and  so  constituting 
"  one  kingdom,  joy,  and  union  without  end."  And  the 
only  law  of  his  kingdom  is  that  we  join  ourselves  to 
him,  receive  his  Spirit,  live  his  life,  seek  his  ends,  know 
him  ourselves,  and  make  him  known  to  others.  This 
law  is  a  law  of  liberty,  because  it  is  accompanied  by 
power  to  obey.  The  commandment  is  no  longer  griev- 
ous, because  it  presupposes  love,  and  the  service  of  love 
is  perfect  freedom.  Heaven  is  the  reign  of  God  in 
Christ.  It  is  primarily  an  allegiance,  an  attitude  of 
soul,  a  new  and  normal  relation  of  man  to  the  things 
of  the  Spirit.  When  Paul  cried :  "  Lord,  what  wilt 
thou  have  me  to  do?  "  he  recognized  Christ's  supreme 
authority  and  gladly  submitted  himself  to  it.  He 
became  a  citizen  of  heaven  when  he  surrendered  him- 
self to  Christ  and  gave  himself  to  Christ's  service. 

Heaven  implies  a  King  and  an  allegiance,  but  it 
also  implies  a  holy  society.  When  we  come  out  from 
the  world  and  begin  to  serve  Christ,  we  are  not  left 
orphans.  By  his  Spirit  Christ  himself  comes  to  us,  and 
this  presence  of  Christ  and  communion  with  Christ  is 
the  greatest  privilege  of  the  kingdom.  Stephen  at  his 
martyrdom  prayed  to  Christ.  The  early  church  called 
upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  was  Christ. 
Paul  says  that  Christ  is  our  life,  and  he  cannot  conceive 
of  a  Christian  life  separated  from  the  Saviour.  There 
is  no  indication  of  declension  from  New  Testament 
doctrine  or  experience  more  marked  and  more  danger- 
ous than  the  counting  of  our  Lord  Jesus  as  a  mere 


CITIZENSHIP    IN    HEAVEN  163 

historical  personage  who  lived  and  died  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  ago,  but  who  has  no  present  existence  or  in- 
fluence. Not  the  dead  Christ  of  the  crucifix,  but  the  liv- 
ing Christ,  the  present  Christ,  the  divine  Christ,  is  the 
Christ  of  our  commonwealth,  and  to  many  a  believer  the 
discovery  that  Christ  is  still  alive,  accessible,  omnipo- 
tent, is  the  beginning  of  a  new  and  blessed  experience. 
We  are  citizens  of  heaven.  But  there  are  other  cit- 
izens besides  ourselves.  Indeed,  we  are  bound  not  only 
to  love  God,  but  to  love  our  neighbor  also.  It  is  no 
narrow  patriotism  that  is  enjoined  upon  us.  To  be 
citizens  of  heaven  is  to  have  membership  in  a  grander 
political  structure  than  that  of  Israel  or  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  If  Paul  prided  himself  on  being  a  free-born 
citizen  of  Tarsus,  no  mean  city,  he  gloried  much  more 
in  being  a  freeman  in  God's  kingdom ;  nay,  one  of  the 
sons  of  the  heavenly  King.  The  author  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  tells  us  that  we  are  come  "  to  God 
the  Judge  of  all,"  and  "  to  Jesus  the  Mediator  of  a 
new  covenant,"  but  he  also  tells  us  that  we  are  come 
"  to  innumerable  hosts  of  angels,  the  general  assembly 
and  church  of  the  first-born  who  are  enrolled  in 
heaven,"  and  "  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  per- 
fect." It  is  the  goodly  fellowship  of  all  who  in  time 
and  in  eternity  love  and  serve  the  Lord.  The  Christ 
who  fills  all  in  all  is  not  only  the  life  of  the  church  in  all 
lands  and  ages,  but  he  is  also  the  light  that  lighteth 
every  man,  so  that  every  spark  of  truth  in  heathendom 
as  well  as  in  Christendom  is  but  a  scintillation  from  his 
fire,  and  citizenship  in  his  kingdom  binds  Paul  and 
binds  us  to  go  out  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  and 
to  off'er  its  privileges  to  the  whole  race  of  man. 


164  MISCELLANIES 

So  much  with  regard  to  the  constitution  of  this  new 
commonwealth  of  which  Paul  speaks.  It  implies  a 
King,  an  allegiance,  a  society.  Now,  in  the  second 
place,  what  is  meant  when  it  is  said  to  be  "  in  heaven  "  ? 
Is  heaven  a  country  ?  This  figure  of  speech  is  certainly 
used  in  Scripture.  The  prophet  spoke  of  "  the  land 
that  is  very  far  off,"  and  the  saints  are  said  to  "  desire 
a  better  country,  that  is,  a  heavenly."  God  is  said  to 
have  "  prepared  for  them  a  city."  Abraham  went  out 
from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  "  not  knowing  whither  he 
went,"  "  for  he  looked  for  the  city  which  hath  the 
foundations,  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God."  In 
the  Isle  of  Patmos  John  "  saw  the  holy  city,  new 
Jerusalem,  coming  down  out  of  heaven  from  God,  made 
ready  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband."  I  would 
not  deny  that  heaven  may  be  a  place.  The  glorified 
body  of  our  risen  Lord  would  seem  to  need  place  for 
its  manifestation.  Local  attachments  are  strong  with 
us,  and  we  can  hardly  conceive  of  a  home  for  the  spirit 
that  is  without  them.  But  how  plain  it  is  that  home 
means  inward  content,  far  more  than  it  means  outward 
surroundings !  There  can  be  no  true  home  for  the 
restless  and  guilty  soul.  The  greatest  beauties  of  na- 
ture are  hidden  from  the  selfish  and  despairing.  John 
Milton  said  truly: 

Th  I  mind  is  its  own  place,  and  in  itself 
Can  make  a  heaven  of  hell,  a  hell  of  heaven. 

Heaven  is  primarily  a  state.  It  is  a  matter  of  dis- 
position, not  of  location.  If  heaven  is  in  any  sense  a 
place,  it  is  only  that  the  outward  may  correspond  to 
the  inward,  only  that  environment  may  correspond  to 


CITIZENSHIP    IN    HEAVEN  1 65 

character.  But  God  has  made  us  with  these  finite  long- 
ings, and  that  is  the  pledge  that  he  will  satisfy  them. 
Since  Jesus  has  gone  to  prepare  a  place  for  us,  we  may 
believe  that  in  the  many  mansions  of  the  Father's  house 
we  shall  find  the  true  home  of  the  soul.  Let  us  leave 
the  future  to  God,  assured  that  "  he  who  spared  not 
his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us  all,"  shall 
"  also  with  him  freely  give  us  all  things." 

So  too,  with  regard  to  the  enjoyments  of  heaven. 
\Ye  read  of  singing  and  worship  and  rest  and  com- 
panionship. The  tree  of  life  with  its  twelve  manner 
of  fruits  grows  by  the  side  of  the  ever-flowing  river, 
and  its  leaves  are  for  the  healing  of  the  nations.  I 
sympathize  with  that  poor  girl  of  whom  the  author 
of  "  The  Gates  Ajar  "  tells  us.  She  had  an  exquisite 
love  for  music,  but  her  taste  found  little  gratification 
here.  She  was  assured  that  she  should  have  a  piano 
in  heaven.  I  do  not  doubt  that  there  was  essential 
truth  in  that  assurance.  The  longing  of  the  soul  would 
be  fully  satisfied,  if  not  by  a  piano,  then  by  something 
of  which  earthly  harmonies  are  only  faint  hints  and 
symbols.  There  are  only  two  things  absolutely  needed 
to  make  heaven.  One  is  righteousness,  and  the  other 
is  love.  We  look  for  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  Freedom  from  sin 
within  and  freedom  from  sin  without — there  can  be 
no  heaven  apart  from  this.  And  this  means  the  reign 
of  love.  "  Love  is  the  only  good  in  the  world,"  says 
Robert  Browning;  and,  if  he  means  holy  love,  his 
words  are  true.  But  consider  how  entirely  inward 
these  gifts  of  the  Spirit  are!  Our  Saviour  utters  his 
beatitudes  not  upon  riches  or  power  or  pleasure,  but 


l66  MISCELLANIES 

Upon  the  graces  of  the  heart.  "  Blessed  are  the  poor 
in  spirit,  they  that  mourn,  the  meek,  they  that  hunger 
and  thirst  after  righteousness,  the  merciful,  the  pure 
in  heart,  the  peacemakers,  the  persecuted."  And  this 
answers  to  our  own  experience.  Our  times  of  true 
blessedness  have  been  the  quiet  hours  in  which  we  were 
assured  of  sins  forgiven,  of  sincere  purpose  to  do  right, 
of  unselfish  love  for  others,  of  the  favor  and  presence 
of  God. 

Our  Lord  Jesus  shows  us  in  his  own  life  the  inward- 
ness of  this  heavenly  commonwealth.  How  completely 
independent  he  is  of  all  earthly  conditions !  He  has 
not  where  to  lay  his  head,  yet  he  is  Lord  of  all.  He 
walks  our  narrow  ways,  yet  he  is  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Father.  He  is  the  Son  of  man,  yet  the  Son  of 
man  who  is  in  heaven.  He  does  always  what  pleases 
the  Father;  his  meat  and  drink  are  to  do  the  Father's 
will;  he  is  not  alone,  for  the  Father  is  with  him;  he 
and  the  Father  are  one.  Heaven  cannot  be  far  away 
if  Jesus  is  in  heaven,  even  while  here  on  earth.  His 
heaven  consists  in  communion  with  God,  likeness  to 
God,  and  the  doing  of  God's  will.  And  his  life  shows 
us  what  it  is  to  be  a  citizen  of  heaven. 

We  mistake  too.  when  we  regard  heaven  as  alto- 
gether unrealized  as  yet,  or  as  existing  only  in  the 
future.  You  notice  that  the  apostle  uses  the  present 
tense :  "  Our  citizenship  is  in  heaven  " ;  "  We  are  come 
unto  mount  Zion,  and  unto  the  city  of  the  living  God, 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem."  We  have  been  already  ad- 
mitted into  it.  Heaven  is  something  present,  as  well 
as  something  yet  to  come.  There  is  a  spiritual  world. 
It  is  the  real  world.     The  world  of  sense  is  only  the 


CITIZENSHIP    IN    HEAVEN  167 

symbol  of  it.  We  all  feel  this  at  times.  Things  seen 
and  temporal  appear  delusive  and  vain.  The  unseen 
and  eternal  looms  up  as  the  only  worthy  object  of  con- 
templation or  ambition.  In  Tennyson's  "  Idylls  of  the 
King,"  he  speaks  of: 

Moments  when  he  feels  he  cannot  die, 
And  knows  himself  no  vision  to  himself 
Nor  the  high  God  a  vision. 

And  in  1869  the  poet  wrote :  "  Yes,  it  is  true  that  there 
are  moments  when  the  flesh  is  nothing  to  me ;  when  I 
feel  and  know  the  flesh  to  be  the  vision;  God  and  the 
spiritual  is  the  real ;  it  belongs  to  me  more  than  the 
hand  and  the  foot.  You  may  tell  me  that  my  hand  and 
my  foot  are  only  imaginary  symbols  of  my  existence — 
I  could  believe  you ;  but  you  never,  never  can  convince 
me  that  the  /  is  not  an  eternal  reality,  and  that  the 
spiritual  is  not  the  true  and  real  part  of  me."  This  is 
not  mere  poetry, — it  is  insight  into  truth  and  into 
the  nature  of  things.  The  ideal  world,  of  which  all 
things  visible  are  but  the  shadow  and  partial  manifes- 
tation, this  has  been  the  discovery  and  revelation  of  all 
true  philosophy  from  the  days  of  Plato  down. 

Regeneration  by  the  Spirit  of  God  opens  our  eyes 
to  it.  I  do  not  mean  that  unregenerate  men  have  no 
glimpses  of  it,  for  I  believe  that  the  Spirit  of  God  has 
many  ways  of  preparatory  working,  and  that  many  a 
poet  and  seer  has  caught  some  rays  of  the  true  light 
that  lighteth  every  man.  even  though  that  light  has 
shined  for  the  most  part  in  the  midst  of  darkness.  But 
there  is  a  naturalization  into  this  kingdom  of  the  Spirit, 
a  new  birth  into  the  world  of  spiritual  realities,  just 


l68  MISCELLANIES 

as  there  was  a  first  birth  into  the  sensible  and  material 
world,  and  "  except  one  be  born  anew,  he  cannot  see 
the  kingdom  of  God."  What  a  change  that  new  birth 
of  the  Spirit  makes  in  us!  It  is  somewhat  like  the 
change  from  childhood  to  manhood.  How  utterly  un- 
able is  the  child  to  understand  the  plans  and  pursuits  of 
the  father !  To  the  child  the  world  of  appetite  and  of 
play  is  all-engrossing ;  how  his  father  can  interest  him- 
self so  long  at  the  desk  with  those  books  passes  his 
comprehension.  But  there  comes  a  time  when  food 
and  play  take  their  proper  place  as  means  rather  than 
ends;  the  child  breathes  a  larger  air,  and  has  nobler 
ambitions;  he  has  become  a  man,  and  has  put  away 
childish  things.  In  a  similar  manner  God's  regen- 
erating Spirit  opens  to  the  child  of  larger  growth  a  new 
spiritual  world.  To  those  whose  lower  nature  was 
supreme  he  shows  the  ignominy  of  a  life  in  which  appe- 
tite rules;  the  vanity  of  the  brief  and  ever-growing 
thirst  for  property  and  power;  the  corroding  and  re- 
morseful end  of  those  who  are  self-centered  and  deter- 
mined to  make  the  universe  and  even  God  himself 
revolve  around  them.  To  the  truly  converted  there  ap- 
pears a  new  world  of  love  and  of  service.  Old  things 
have  passed  away;  all  things  have  become  new.  The 
present  still  fetters  them,  but  they  recognize  themselves 
as  creatures  of  eternity.  Like  God,  they  are  no  longer 
subject  to  the  law  of  space  and  time.  Believing  in  God, 
as  he  is  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ,  they  already  have  eter- 
nal life, 

I  am  quite  aware  that  this  description  of  a  heavenly 
citizenship  may  seem  vague  and  unsubstantial  to  those 
whose  only  standards  of  judgment  are  external  and 


CITIZENSHir    IN    HEAVEN  169 

material.  I  grant  that  only  a  spiritual  experience  can 
enable  us  to  understand  spiritual  things.  But  I  appeal 
to  that  spiritual  experience  in  the  Christian,  and  I 
solemnly  assure  those  who  are  yet  blind  to  these 
heavenly  realities  that  Christ  can  and  will  reveal  them 
to  all  who  sincerely  ask  him.  And  if  this  phenomenal 
world  that  environs  us  seems  still  necessary  to  our  exist- 
ence both  here  and  hereafter,  let  me  remind  you  that 
matter  is  plastic  in  Christ's  hands,  and  that  he  can  by 
the  word  of  his  power  create  for  us  whatever  bodily 
vehicle  or  outward  environment  may  be  needed  for  the 
education  of  our  spirits  and  the  satisfaction  of  our  best 
desires.  Soul  determines  body,  and  not  body  soul,  as 
the  materialist  imagines.  The  soul  in  union  with  God 
will  be  possessed  of  the  power  of  God.  Both  the  body 
which  we  inhabit  and  that  larger  body,  the  world  in 
which  we  dwell,  are  only  manifestations  of  God's  mind 
and  will.    So  we  believe  in  Jesus  and  the  resurrection. 

Sin-blighted  as  we  are,  we  too, 

The  reasoning  sons  of  men, 
From  one  oblivious  winter  called, 

Shall  rise  and  breathe  again, 
And  in  eternal  summer  lose 

Our  threescore  years  and  ten. 

To  humbleness  of  mind  descends 

This  prescience  from  on  high. 
The  faith  that  elevates  the  just 

Before  and  when  they  die, 
And  makes  each  soul  a  separate  heaven, 

A  court  for  Deity. 

So  we  come,  in  the  third  place,  to  define  more  exactly 
what  this  heavenly  citizenship  involves.    To  be  a  citizen 


170 


MISCELLANIES 


of  heaven  is  to  have  the  rights  of  a  citizen.  As  Paul 
claimed  his  rights  as  a  citizen  of  Rome  and  took  a  cer- 
tain pride  in  them,  so  we  who  belong  to  the  heavenly 
kingdom  may  glory  that  we  are  citizens  of  heaven. 
Our  new  King  and  his  laws,  his  atoning  sacrifice  and 
his  renewing  Spirit,  give  us  security,  protection,  society, 
honor.  We  have  been  presented  with  the  freedom  of 
the  City  of  God.  The  whole  eighth  chapter  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  is  intended  to  show  the  present 
and  eternal  blessedness  of  those  who  have  entered 
the  heavenly  kingdom.  Neither  death  nor  life,  nor 
angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  pres- 
ent, nor  things  to  come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any 
other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the 
love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 

To  be  a  citizen  of  heaven  is  to  have  duties  as  well 
as  rights.  Paul's  exhortation  to  the  Philippians  to 
"  walk  worthily  "  should  be  translated :  "  Behave  as 
citizens,  worthily  of  the  gospel  of  Christ";  in  other 
words,  show  in  all  your  earthly  relations  that  you  be- 
long to  the  heavenly  kingdom ;  live  according  to  God's 
laws;  so,  as  far  as  in  you  lies,  turn  earth  into  heaven. 
Dante,  in  his  "  Divine  Comedy,"  caught  the  substance 
of  the  truth  when  he  made  the  angels  who  in  heaven 
are  nearest  to  God,  to  be  engaged  at  the  same  time  in 
lowly  ministration  to  the  needy  on  earth.  Dante  only 
interpreted  Jesus'  words :  "  See  that  ye  despise  not 
one  of  these  little  ones;  for  I  say  unto  you,  that  in 
heaven  their  angels  do  always  behold  the  face  of  my 
Father  who  is  in  heaven."  To  be  a  citizen  of  heaven, 
therefore,  implies  active  service  to  every  good  cause, 
the  betterment  of  all  social  conditions,  the  sending  of 


CITIZENSHIP    IN    HEAVEN  I/I 

the  gospel  to  the  heathen  nations,  the  effort  to  bring 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  our  families,  our  com- 
munities, and  all  mankind.  To  be  a  citizen  of  heaven 
is,  like  Christ,  to  realize  heaven  in  our  own  souls,  and 
then  to  establish  it  outside  of  us  by  going  about  and 
doing  good. 

For  heaven,  I  repeat,  is  nothing  but  the  reign  of 
God.  Where  God  reigns,  there  is  heaven.  It  is  only 
sin  within  us  and  sin  outside  of  us  that  prevents  us  even 
here  from  realizing  it.  We  ourselves  have  to  be  born 
anew  in  order  to  see  heaven, — that  is  the  first  requi- 
sition. But  there  is  a  second — other  people  must  also  be 
born  anew,  in  order  that  the  soul  may  have  a  proper 
habitat  and  a  proper  society.  We  need  a  new  body  and 
a  new  world.  But  these  shall  surely  come.  "  Behold, 
I  make  all  things  new  " — that  is  the  promise  of  the 
future.  Here  we  are  like  fish  out  of  water,  or  like 
birds  of  broken  wing.  And  because  the  outward  does 
not  yet  correspond  to  the  inward,  we  feel  like  strangers 
and  pilgrims;  we  have  no  continuing  city;  we  seek 
one  to  come;  we  have  a  desire  to  depart  and  be  with 
Christ,  which  is  far  better.  At  times  the  longing  for 
the  sinless  and  perfect  state  becomes  overpowering,  and 
we  sing: 

Sweet   fields   beyond   the   swelling  flood 

Stand  dressed  in  living  green ; 
So  to  the  Jews  fair  Canaan  stood 

While  Jordan  rolled  between. 

Could  we  but  stand  where  Moses  stood 

And  view  the  landscape  o'er, 
Not  Jordan's  stream  nor  death's  cold  flood 

Should  fright  us  from  the  shore. 


172  MISCELLANIES 

Let  US  listen  to  the  apostle  while  he  assures  us  of  the 
future :  "  For  I  reckon  that  the  sufferings  of  this  pres- 
ent time  are  not  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  glory 
which  shall  be  revealed  to  us-ward.  .  .  For  we  know 
that  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain 
together  until  now.  And  not  only  so,  but  ourselves 
also  who  have  the  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit,  even  we 
ourselves  groan  within  ourselves,  waiting  for  our 
adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of  our  body.  For  in 
hope  were  we  saved :  but  hope  that  is  seen  is  not  hope : 
for  who  hopeth  for  that  which  he  seeth?  But  if  we 
hope  for  that  which  wfe  see  not,  then  do  we  with  pa- 
tience wait  for  it."  Notice  that  word  "  first-fruits." 
We  have  the  heavenly  kingdom  within  as  pledge  of  the 
perfect  triumph  of  the  kingdom  outside  of  us,  just 
as  the  few  early  ears  of  corn  are  pledge  of  the  abound- 
ing harvest  that  is  to  follow.  "  For  our  citizenship  is 
in  heaven  :  whence  also  we  wait  for  a  Saviour,  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ;  who  shall  fashion  anew  the  body  of  our 
humiliation,  that  it  may  be  conformed  to  the  body  of 
his  glory,  according  to  the  working  whereby  he  is  able 
even  to  subject  all  things  unto  himself."  As  the  Philip- 
pian  citizen  looked  to  Rome  for  protection,  so  the 
Christian  citizen  may  look  to  heaven  for  help,  in  every 
time  of  need.  This  is  the  true  "  City  of  God,"  of  which 
Augustine  wrote. 

The  only  guarantee  of  immortality  to  any  man  is  the 
atoning  death  and  the  glorious  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  only  proof  of  a  future  heaven  is  the 
present  heaven  constituted  by  the  indwelling  of  Christ 
in  his  own  soul.  The  citizen  of  heaven  carries  his 
credentials  with  him.     His  passport  is  God's  writing 


CITIZENSHIP    IN    HEAVEN  1/3 

Upon  his  heart.  The  assurance  that  heaven  shall  be 
ours  is  not  to  be  found  in  an  other-vvorldliness  which 
ignores  the  present,  but  in  the  effort  to  make  the  heaven 
within  shed  its  light  abroad  and  so  transform  the  earth 
into  its  likeness.  Archimedes  declared  that,  if  he  could 
only  find  a  place  to  stand,  he  could  move  the  whole 
world.  Christianity  furnishes  the  place,  the  pou  sto  in 
its  doctrine  of  the  heavenly  citizenship.  We  are  to 
"  seek  the  things  that  are  above,  where  Christ  is,  seated 
on  the  right  hand  of  God."  But  we  are  to  "  lay  up  for 
ourselves  treasures  in  heaven,"  by  using  our  worldly 
possessions  here  in  such  way  as  to  make  a  little  heaven 
below  for  those  who  are  not  so  well  off  as  we  are.  It 
is  "  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  God  "  that  "  abideth 
forever";  and,  if  we  are  always  ready,  we  shall  be 
ready  when  Jesus  comes. 

A  pious  Scotchman  was  once  asked  whether  he  ever 
expected  to  reach  heaven.  He  replied :  "  Why,  mon, 
I  live  there  noo."  And  that  is  the  best  evidence.  The 
present  possession  of  Christ  and  of  the  gifts  of  his 
Spirit  is  the  earnest  of  our  future  inheritance.  Faith 
is  "  assurance  of  things  hoped  for,  a  conviction  of 
things  not  seen."  Let  us  not  postpone  our  heaven  to 
the  far  future,  but  take  it  now.  Let  us  lay  hold 
of  Christ  by  faith,  and  with  Christ  all  things — heaven 
included — shall  be  a  present  possession.  The  world 
passes  away,  and  the  desire  for  it,  but  he  that  doeth 
the  will  of  God  abides  forever.  Shakespeare  says  well 
that : 

Like  the  baseless  fabric  of  this  vision, 
The  cloud-capp'd  towers,  the  gorgeous  palaces. 
The  solemn  temples,  the  great  globe  itself. 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit,  shall  dissolve, 


174  MISCELLANIES 

And  like  this  insubstantial  pageant  faded, 
Leave  not  a  rack  behind.    We  are  such  stuff 
As  dreams  are  made  on;  and  our  little  life 
Is  rounded  with  a  sleep. 

And  John  Henry  Newman : 

Then  what  this  world  to  thee,  my  heart? 

Its  gifts  nor  feed  thee,  nor  can  bless ; 

Thou  hast  no  owner's  part  in  all  its  fleetingness. 

And  the  Scripture  urges  the  transientness  of  all  earthly 
things  as  a  reason  for  cultivating  the  things  of  the 
spirit :  "  Seeing  that  these  things  are  thus  all  to  be  dis- 
solved, what  manner  of  persons  ought  ye  to  be  in  all 
holy  living  and  godliness,  looking  for  and  earnestly 
desiring  the  coming  of  the  day  of  God,  by  reason  of 
which  the  heavens  being  on  fire  shall  be  dissolved,  and 
the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat?  But,  ac- 
cording to  his  promise,  we  look  for  new  heavens  and 
a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness."  We 
were  made  to  be  citizens  of  heaven.  Let  us  claim  our 
inheritance  and  rejoice  in  it.  For  heaven  here  insures 
heaven  hereafter. 

Jesus,  in  mercy  bring  us 

To  that  dear  land  of  rest, 
Who  art,  with  God  the  Father 

And  Spirit,  ever  blest ! 


XXXI 

FEAR  IN  RELIGION 


And  I  say  unto  you,  my  friends,  Be  not  afraid  of  them  that  kill 
the  body,  and  after  that  have  no  more  that  they  can  do.  But  I 
will  forewarn  you  whom  ye  shall  fear:  Fear  him,  who  after 
he  hath  killed,  hath  power  to  cast  into  hell;  yea,  I  say  unto  you, 
Fear  him.     (Luke  12:4,  5.) 

Clearly  this  is  not  an  exhortation  to  reverence  or 
filial  fear,  but  to  the  fear  of  God's  anger.  For  this 
reason  it  is  often  received  with  prejudice  and  oppo- 
sition. Many  people  think  it  a  base  thing  to  be  moved 
by  fear  at  all.  They  will  not  believe  in  a  religion  that 
appeals  to  fear.  They  fancy  that  Christianity  is  based 
only  on  men's  fears,  and  therefore  they  reject  it.  All 
these  erroneous  notions  will  be  set  right  if  we  once 
consider  the  true  office  of  fear  and  its  proper  place  as 
a  motive  in  religion.  I  propose  to  show  three  things: 
First,  that  fear  is  recognized  as  a  rational  and  salutary 
emotion  in  common  affairs  of  life;  secondly,  that  fear 
must  always  be  present  in  religion  so  long  as  there 
is  sin;  and  thirdly,  that  Christianity  uses  fear  only  to 
insure  our  escape  from  sin,  and  so  to  make  possible 
the  exclusive  reign  of  love. 

First,  then,   I  would  have  you  notice  that  fear  is 
cvcryivhcrc  recognized  as  a  rational  and  salutary  emo- 

^  A  sermon  preached  in   Sage  Chapel,  Cornell  University,   Ithaca,   N.   Y., 
March,   1898. 


176  MISCELLANIES 

tioit.  All  the  prejudice  which  exists  against  it  arises 
from  confounding  fear  with  a  certain  other  allied  but 
very  distinct  emotion.  There  is  an  emotion  which  dis- 
tracts and  unmans,  even  if  it  does  not  absolutely 
paralyze  the  soul.  But  this  emotion  is  not  properly 
fear, — it  is  fright  or  terror.  Terror  is  indeed  a  sign 
of  weakness  and  a  source  of  weakness.  It  is  a  partial 
abdication  of  reason  and  submission  to  the  wild  sway 
of  imagination.  Deliberation  and  judicious  action  are 
impossible  while  terror  reigns.  But  it  is  not  so  with 
fear.  Fear  is  the  calm  recognition  of  danger,  together 
with  such  apprehension  of  it  and  shrinking  from  it  as 
induce  effort  to  escape.  Here  is  a  crowded  concert- 
hall.  In  the  midst  of  the  performance,  a  messenger 
whispers  to  the  conductor.  He  taps  with  his  baton.  In 
an  instant  the  instruments  are  hushed,  and  the  leader 
announces  in  a  clear  voice  that  a  fire  has  just  broken 
out  in  the  building,  and  that  while  there  is  no  im- 
mediate danger  it  is  advisable  for  the  audience  quietly 
but  at  once  to  withdraw.  Here  is  every  care  taken  to 
prevent  panic,  but  at  the  same  time  every  effort  to 
inspire  rational  fear.  It  is  unworthy  a  man  under 
such  circumstances  to  be  overcome  wnth  terror,  but 
no  one  of  all  that  audience  feels  that  it  is  beneath  him 
to  fear.  No  man  compromises  his  dignity  or  shows 
that  he  is  a  coward,  when  he  is  "  moved  by  fear  "  to 
save  his  life. 

We  shall  see  this  more  plainly  if  we  consider  what 
provision  God  has  made  for  fear  in  our  constitution 
and  training.  Fear  begins  as  an  instinct — a  self-pre- 
serving instinct  implanted  in  our  nature.  The  little 
child  shrinks  from  strange  faces  and  from  the  dark- 


FEAR    IN    RELIGION  I77 

ness  whose  secrets  it  knows  nothing  of.  There  are  in- 
voluntary movements  of  the  body  by  which  we  pre- 
serve ourselves  from  danger;  the  eyelids  suddenly 
close  when  some  foreign  substance  threatens  to  enter; 
we  start  back  when  we  find  ourselves  all  at  once  on 
the  edge  of  a  precipice.  Some  of  these  sudden  fears 
we  outgrow,  but  not  so  with  all.  Reason  comes  in  to 
justify  niany  of  them.  "  The  burnt  child,"  we  say, 
"  dreads  the  fire."  Fear  serves  to  keep  the  child  from 
future  danger.  And  so,  all  through  life,  experience, 
which  is  little  more  than  our  justified  and  systematized 
fears,  guards  us  against  accident  and  needless  ex- 
posures. A  large  part  of  the  creations  of  human  art 
and  wisdom  are  the  products  and  results  of  rational 
fear.  Laws  and  courts  and  prisons  are  possible  only 
where  apprehension  exists  of  disorder  and  violence 
and  crime.  Insurance  companies  are  built  up  upon 
men's  fears  of  fire  and  accident  and  death.  Physicians 
live  and  work  because  men  fear  disease  and  pain.  All 
these  things  show  how  fear  secures  and  protects  us. 
If  there  were  no  such  thing  as  fear,  we  should  run 
headlong  upon  a  thousand  mischiefs  which  might  prove 
our  ruin.  Many  a  man  is  kept  from  death  by  nothing 
but  the  fear  of  death.  Amid  the  multitudinous  ills 
and  burdens  of  life,  the  mass  of  men  would  rush  to 
suicide  by  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands,  and  the 
world  itself  would  be  depopulated  if  this  fear  of  death 
did  not  sound  out  like  an  alarm-bell  upon  the  rocks  of 
that  solemn  shore,  to  warn  these  storm-driven  barks 
of  shipwreck  for  eternity,  and  so  turn  them  back  from 
their  fancied  refuge  of  self-destruction. 

Since  fear  is  an  instinct  of  our  nature  and  is  backed 

M 


178  MISCELLANIES 

Up  by  sound  reason,  he  who  never  takes  counsel  of  his 
fears  is  false  to  nature  and  to  reason  too.  To  be  in- 
fluenced by  the  motive  of  fear  is  a  very  different  thing 
from  cowardice.  A  reasonable  fear,  that  is,  a  fear 
proportioned  to  the  danger,  and  prompting  efforts  to 
escape,  is  in  worldly  matters  a  stimulus  to  the  highest 
endeavor.  It  is  not  debasing,  but  elevating.  It  is  not 
weak  and  unmanly,  but  one  of  the  chief  supports  of 
energy  and  courage.  A  reasonable  fear  is  not  despair, 
any  more  than  it  is  terror.  It  is  perfectly  consistent 
with  hope  that  danger  may  be  averted  and  difficulty 
overcome.  True  fear  simply  leads  a  man  to  acknowl- 
edge the  danger  and  face  the  difficulty ;  without  fear 
he  might  shut  his  eyes  and  delay  till  escape  was  hope- 
less. A  true  fear  of  the  evil  of  disunion  and  the 
triumph  of  rebellion  moved  the  North  a  few  years  ago 
to  pour  forth  money  by  the  thousand  million,  and  the 
lives  of  her  sons  by  the  hundred  thousand,  and  the 
world  does  not  think  it  cowardly  that  we  spent  so 
much  to  save  our  nationality.  On  the  contrary,  the 
absence  of  all  fear,  when  reason  for  fear  exists,  is  the 
weak  and  unmanly  thing.  We  do  not  call  it  courage, 
but  recklessness,  and  we  attribute  it  either  to  gross 
ignorance  or  to  moral  insensibility.  The  youthful  vol- 
unteer may  rush  into  battle  in  a  sort  of  wild  intoxica- 
tion, but  he  is  the  first  to  run  when  the  battle  turns 
against  him;  the  veteran  who  knows  how  to  hold  his 
ground  all  through  the  adverse  day  is  the  man  whose 
experience  has  made  him  fear,  and  whose  fear  has 
added  caution  to  his  valor.  And  so  let  a  tremendous 
danger  menace  the  family  or  the  State,  and  it  is  not  he 
who  recks  not  that  you  call  the  wisest  and  the  strongest 


FEAR    IN    RELIGION  179 

man,  but  rather  he  whose  brows  show  grave  appre- 
hension of  the  peril,  and  whose  every  movement  evinces 
that  mind  and  heart  are  busy  in  devising  the  means  to 
meet  it. 

Allowing  then  that,  in  common  affairs  of  life,  there 
is  place  and  use  for  fear,  let  us  ask  whether  there  is 
any  good  reason  for  refusing  it  influence  in  religion, 
I  maintain,  as  the  second  thought  of  the  subject,  that 
so  long  as  there  is  a  possibility  of  sin,  there  must  exist 
in  religion,  and  there  ought  to  exist,  this  element  of 
fear.  And  this  is  little  more  than  to  say  that,  so  long 
as  there  is  anything  to  fear,  men  ought  to  fear,  and 
that  they  cannot  properly  dispense  with  the  emotion 
so  long  as  there  is  anything  to  call  it  forth.  We  know 
that  God  has  ordained  fear  in  secular  concerns  in  or- 
der that  we  may  provide  for  our  safety.  Now,  allow- 
ing for  the  moment  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  peril 
for  the  soul,  then  certain  things  follow  of  necessity. 
First,  that  such  danger  is  a  more  serious  thing  than 
danger  of  the  body.  Secondly,  that  when  God  has 
done  so  much  to  inspire  salutary  fear  of  physical  death, 
we  may  expect  him  to  give  far  more  solemn  warn- 
ings, and  to  awaken  in  us  far  more  anxious  alarms 
with  regard  to  eternal  death.  And  thirdly,  that  if 
there  be  such  a  thing  as  eternal  death  and  God  has 
declared  it  to  us,  then  we  are  bound  in  reason  to  fear 
this  more  than  we  fear  any  earthly  or  transient  evil. 

Is  there  anything  to  fear,  then? — that  is  the  ques- 
tion. I  answer,  there  is  much  to  fear.  It  is  not  a 
groundless  fear  to  which  religion  binds  us,  but  a 
rational  and  well-founded  fear.  The  Scriptures  show 
us  just  what  the  reason  is  for  fear.     The  reason  lies 


l80  MISCELLANIES 

in  the  fact  of  sin.  God  is  a  God  of  infinite  moral 
purity.  Sin  is  impurity  and  a  standing  insult  to  his 
holiness.  God  is  a  God  of  perfectly  disinterested  be- 
nevolence. Sin  is  selfishness  and  a  blot  upon  the  fair 
creation  of  his  hands.  And  just  in  proportion  to  the 
spotless  whiteness  of  God's  moral  excellence  and  the 
infinite  energy  of  his  love  is  his  hatred  of  men's  un- 
holiness  and  self-seeking.  In  justice  to  himself  and 
in  justice  to  his  unf alien  creation,  he  must  turn  away 
from  sin  and  mark  it  with  his  abhorrence.  God's  love 
is  not  an  easy  good  nature  that  is  indifferent  to  all 
moral  relations,  but  a  love  for  all  that  is  good  and  pure 
and  true,  and  such  a  love  as  this  involves  in  its  very 
nature  an  intensity  of  indignation  against  falsehood 
and  corruption  and  evil.  The  very  love  of  God  makes 
him  a  consuming  fire  to  all  iniquity.  And  it  punishes 
too.  Not  only  the  laws  of  our  being  punish  us,  but 
God  punishes  us.  God  is  in  all  the  laws  of  nature, 
expressing  his  mind  and  will;  but  over  and  beyond 
all  law  stands  the  living  God,  whose  wrath  transcends 
all  finite  expressions  of  it,  and  into  whose  hand  it  is  a 
fearful  thing  to  fall.  When  we  think  of  the  un- 
changing holiness  of  God  and  of  the  infinite  reach  of 
his  arm  of  power,  we  do  not  wonder  at  Moses.  Moses 
did  not  tremble  when  he  stood  before  the  haughty 
Pharaoh.  But  when  he  came  to  stand  before  God,  in 
the  deep  consciousness  of  his  sinfulness,  he  cried :  "  I 
exceedingly  fear  and  quake." 

I  am  well  aware  that  a  future  of  physical  torment 
has  ceased  to  impress  this  generation,  A  celebrated 
writer  on  psychology  has  said  that  we  have  not  as  great 
an  appetite  for  retribution  as  our  fathers  had.     This 


FEAR    IN    RELIGION  l8l 

may  be  due  to  a  decline  in  moral  earnestness.  I  am 
willing  to  grant  that  the  hell  of  which  our  Saviour 
speaks  is  in  its  essence  an  evil  state  of  the  soul.  If  it 
is  a  place  at  all,  it  is  only  that  environment  may  corre- 
spond to  character.  But  no  one  who  has  had  much  ex- 
perience of  life,  no  one  who  has  sounded  the  depths  of 
his  own  nature,  needs  to  be  told  that  insatiable  desire 
and  the  consciousness  of  guilt  can  make  a  hell  com- 
pared with  which  mere  outward  flame  would  be  cool- 
ness and  peace.  The  fire  and  the  brimstone  are  not 
without,  but  within.  Nero,  shrieking  through  the  halls 
of  his  golden  house ;  Dimmesdale,  in  the  "  Scarlet  Let- 
ter," exposing  himself  in  the  storm  to  heaven's  thunder- 
bolts; these  are  the  historical  and  the  ideal  types,  re- 
spectively, of  the  remorse  that  consumes  the  soul  of 
the  sinner  when  the  Spirit  of  God  has  awakened  him 
to  see  the  nature  of  his  sin.  This  is  the  worm  that 
never  dies  and  the  fire  that  is  not  quenched;  and  this 
reaction  of  our  nature  is  the  work  of  him  that  made 
the  nature  and  that  manifests  himself  in  it.  Just  so 
long  and  so  far  then  as  we  are  sinners,  there  is  ground 
for  fearing  him  who  hates  and  punishes  sin.  Why 
should  we  not  fear?  It  is  the  creature's  declaration 
that  he  is  independent  of  his  Creator;  it  is  the  directest 
antagonism  to  everything  that  there  is  in  God;  all  the 
forces  of  God's  being  and  all  the  resources  of  God's 
government  are  arrayed  against  it.  The  iron  ore  thrust 
into  the  blast-furnace  must  burn  there  till  the  dross  is 
separated  and  the  metal  is  left  pure ;  the  white  flame 
pierces  to  every  part  of  it,  and  will  not  be  satisfied  till 
all  is  like  itself.  So  God's  holiness  is  the  eternal  enemy 
of  everything  that  is  unholy  in  the  universe;  like  in- 


l82  MISCELLANIES 

tense  fire,  it  burns  against  sin ;  there  is  no  cessation  of 
his  anger,  and  cannot  be,  until  sin  is  separated  and  the 
soul  is  holy,  even  as  God  is  holy. 

Make  way  then,  if  you  will,  with  the  hell  of  external 
physical  inflictions,  still  the  hell  of  inward  torture  and 
remorse  remains  to  every  man  who  is  unlike  God  in 
moral  character,  and  who  enters  into  controversy  with 
his  Maker.  So  long  as  he  cannot  escape  from  himself 
or  from  God,  the  whole  system  of  things  must  be  a 
blast-furnace  to  reduce  and  subdue  his  refractory  soul. 
Fear  in  religion,  then,  is  not  the  offspring  of  mere 
imagination;  it  is  not  based  upon  a  false  view  of  the 
soul's  relation  to  God.  So  long  as  sin  exists,  or  the 
possibility  of  sin,  fear  is  the  natural  and  rational 
and  irresistible  prompting  of  the  soul  to  escape  from 
the  inflictions  of  God's  anger.  It  has  its  cause  and 
foundation  not  simply  in  the  nature  of  man,  but  in  the 
nature  of  God.  And,  therefore,  the  progress  of  ages 
and  the  change  of  dispensations  does  not  affect  it. 
Fear  belongs  to  the  New  Testament  as  well  as  to  the 
Old.  It  is  the  greatest  mistake  to  call  the  Old  Testa- 
ment a  dispensation  of  fear  only,  while  we  call  the 
New  Testament  a  dispensation  only  of  love.  The 
truth  is  that  fear  and  love  both  had  place  in  the  Old 
as  they  have  in  the  New.  The  only  difference  is  that 
under  the  old  dispensation  men  did  not  know  so  much 
of  God's  nature  or  of  the  nature  of  sin  as  they  do  under 
the  new,  and,  therefore,  they  could  not  know  so  much 
either  of  the  greatness  of  God's  wrath  or  of  the  great- 
ness of  his  mercy.  As  the  Old  Testament  saints  did 
not  have  a  clear  view  of  the  Cross,  so  they  were  not 
permitted  to  see  the  depths  of  the  abyss  from  which 


FEAR    IN    RELIGION  1 83 

the  Cross  was  to  save  them.  But  with  the  full  revela- 
tion of  the  way  of  escape  through  Jesus  Christ,  we 
have  also  the  revelation  of  the  eternal  death  from 
which  we  need  to  fly.  Think  of  this,  you  who  hold 
that  religion  is  all  love,  and  that  fear  passed  away  like 
a  nightmare  with  the  darkness  of  antiquity.  Remem- 
ber that  while  the  New  Testament  presents  to  us  a 
crucified  and  almighty  Saviour,  it  also  opens  to  us  for 
the  first  time  the  horrors  of  everlasting  banishment 
from  God.  While  the  New  Testament  shows  us  more 
plainly  what  we  have  to  hope,  it  also  shows  us  more 
plainly  what  we  have  to  fear.  It  emphasizes  not  only 
the  goodness  of  God,  but  the  guilt  of  sin.  It  not  only 
reveals  untold  depths  of  mercy  in  the  Cross,  but  it  also 
speaks  of  sorer  punishments  and  deeper  condemnations. 
No  prophet  or  lawgiver  of  Israel  ever  uttered  such 
words  of  threatening  as  fell  from  Jesus'  lips.  The 
same  voice  that  said,  "  Come  unto  me  all  ye  that 
labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest," 
uttered  the  warning  of  the  text :  "  Be  not  afraid  of 
them  that  kill  the  body,  but  after  that  have  no  more 
that  they  can  do.  But  I  will  forewarn  you  whom  ye 
shall  fear:  Fear  him  who,  after  he  hath  killed,  hath 
power  to  cast  into  hell ;  yea,  I  say  unto  you,  Fear  him." 
So  long  as  sin  exists,  then,  or  the  possibility  of  sin- 
ning against  God,  fear  is  a  rational  and  proper  emo- 
tion, and  every  argument  in  favor  of  the  right  in- 
fluence of  fear  in  worldly  affairs  applies  wnth  infinitely 
greater  force  to  the  affairs  of  the  soul.  But  I  should 
leave  an  altogether  wrong  impression  if  I  stopped  here. 
Fear  is  not  an  end  in  itself,  but  a  means  to  a  higher 
end.     It  is  not  a  good  in  itself,  for  "  fear  hath  tor- 


l84  MISCELLANIES 

ment,"  but  it  is  a  necessary  stepping-stone  to  that 
which  is  really  good.  It  is  not  the  permanent  and  ulti- 
mate thing  which  God  desires  in  us,  but  only  a  pre- 
liminary to  the  state  of  mind  and  heart  which  will 
fully  meet  his  will.  Notice,  then,  in  the  third  place, 
that  Christianity  makes  use  of  fear  only  as  a  prepara- 
tory discipline  zvhich  conducts  at  last  to  the  exclusive 
reign  of  love.  Many  things  are  useful  as  means  which 
would  never  be  sought  as  ends.  The  nauseous  draught 
which  the  physician  prescribes  would  never  be  taken 
for  the  pleasure  of  it — yet  the  patient  may  gladly  drink 
it  for  the  sake  of  the  health  that  is  to  come  thereby. 
Why  is  it  that  you  rejoice  to  see  the  fear  of  temporal 
ruin  taking  possession  of  that  reckless  and  dissipated 
young  man?  Certainly  not  because  you  love  to  see 
him  in  pain,  but  because  it  gives  evidence  that  he  is 
reflecting  on  his  ways  and  feels  the  impulse  to  turn 
from  them.  So  the  Christian  delights  to  hear  the  first 
acknowledgment  of  sin  and  need  and  conscious  danger 
(5n  the  part  of  the  worldly  man — not  because  he  takes 
pleasure  in  another's  distress,  but  because  he  knows 
that  this  apprehension  and  sorrow  is  the  needful  pre- 
cursor of  any  solid  peace  and  joy.  In  other  words, 
until  he  appreciates  the  terrors  of  the  world  to  come, 
he  will  not  flee  from  them  nor  lay  hold  of  the  hopes  set 
before  him  in  the  gospel.  Only  when  he  sees  how 
much  sin  and  its  consequences  are  to  be  feared,  can 
he  understand  the  greatness  of  God's  mercy  in  pro- 
viding a  deliverance.  Fear  is  good,  not  for  what  it  is 
in  itself,  but  because  it  leads  to  the  renouncing  of  sin, 
the  acceptance  of  Christ,  and  the  supreme  dominion  of 
love  in  the  heart. 


FEAR    IN    RELIGION  1 85 

Mark  the  steps  of  this  process.  See  how  fear  pre- 
pares the  way  for  love  in  the  case  of  thousands  who, 
without  its  influence,  would  never  know  the  love  of 
God  at  all.  Observe  how  it  breaks  those  fetters  that 
hold  the  soul  fast  bound,  I  mean  the  attractiveness  of 
sin  and  the  shrinking  which  the  sinner  feels  as  he  looks 
forward  to  a  religious  life.  When  pleasure  sings  her 
siren-song,  and  every  nerve  quivers  with  the  thrill 
of  strong  temptation,  nothing  but  the  harsh  voice  of 
fear  can  break  the  spell  and  free  the  captive.  Men 
absorb  themselves  in  the  pursuit  of  riches  or  personal 
advancement  until  they  are  deaf  to  the  softer  and 
gentler  voices  of  friendship,  and  much  more  deaf  to 
the  entreaties  of  heavenly  mercy.  Then  nothing  but 
the  gathering  clouds  and  forked  lightnings  and  crash- 
ing thunders  of  God's  wrath  can  awake  them  to  their 
peril  and  induce  them  to  seek  a  refuge  for  their  souls. 
How  many  petty  fears  fetter  men  when  the  claims  of 
God  are  presented  to  them — their  own  weakness,  the 
irksomeness  of  duty,  the  opposition  and  ridicule  of 
others!  What  can  do  away  with  these  fears  but  the 
more  dreadful  fear  of  meeting  the  living  God  as  an 
angry  Judge  and  an  eternal  punisher  of  sin  ?  History 
tells  us  that  Bishop  Latimer  once  preached  a  sermon 
before  King  Henry  VHI,  which  greatly  offended  his 
royal  auditor  by  its  plainness.  The  king  ordered  him 
to  preach  again  the  next  Sabbath,  and  to  make  public 
apology  for  his  offense.  The  bishop  ascended  the  pul- 
pit and  read  his  text,  and  thus  began  his  sermon : 
"  Hugh  Latimer,  dost  thou  know  before  whom  thou 
art  this  day  to  speak?  To  the  high  and  mighty 
monarch,  the  king's  most  excellent  majesty,  who  can 


l86  MISCELLANIES 

take  away  thy  life  if  thou  offendest;  therefore,  take 
heed  that  thou  speakest  not  a  word  that  may  displease. 
But  then,  consider  well,  Hugh !  Dost  thou  not  know 
from  whom  thou  comest — upon  whose  message  thou 
art  sent?  Even  by  the  great  and  mighty  God,  who  is 
all-present  and  beholdeth  all  thy  ways,  and  who  is 
able  to  cast  thy  soul  into  hell !  Therefore  take  care 
that  thou  deliverest  thy  message  faithfully."  And  so 
beginning,  he  preached  over  again,  but  with  increased 
energy,  the  self-same  sermon  he  had  preached  the  week 
before.  The  fear  of  God  delivered  him  from  the  fear 
of  man.  Thus  when  desire  of  this  world's  good  or 
shrinking  from  this  world's  frown  is  in  danger  of 
taking  away  our  power  of  sober  reflection  and  turning 
right  decisions  into  wrong,  it  is  of  infinite  value  to 
have  hell  yawn  before  us  and  to  be  compelled  by  its 
terrors  to  cry  with  David :  "  My  flesh  trembleth  for 
fear  of  thee,  and  I  am  afraid  of  thy  judgments." 

But  fear  leads  us  farther  than  to  mere  breaking 
from  our  sins.  It  opens  the  way  for  solid  trust  in 
God's  mercy.  Fear  may  exist,  indeed,  without  actually 
bringing  us  to  pardon  and  peace,  and  so  may  be  only 
the  "  sorrow  of  the  world  that  worketh  death."  But 
this  is  not  the  purpose  and  aim  of  it.  It  is  meant  to 
work  that  "  repentance  that  needeth  not  to  be  repented 
of."  Rightly  used,  fear  brings  us  to  the  cross  of 
Christ  and  to  the  acceptance  of  Christ  as  a  Saviour. 
It  brings  us  to  the  forgiveness  of  sins  and  to  recon- 
ciliation with  God.  It  brings  us  to  faith  and  the  clean- 
sing of  our  souls  in  the  blood  of  Jesus.  Not  that  fear 
has  in  itself  any  power  to  save.  "  'Twas  grace  that 
taught   my    heart    to    fear."      Fear    is    not   like    the 


FEAR    IN    RELIGION  1 8/ 

rough  cactus  plant  which  contains  in  itself  the  beau- 
tiful and  brilliant  flower.  Fear  never  brings  forth  love 
as  its  mere  natural  fruit  and  product.  But  fear  opens 
the  way  for  love,  as  the  night  opens  the  way  for  morn- 
ing. Fear  drives  us  to  Christ,  and  he  does  for  us  what 
fear  itself  could  never  do.  Noah,  we  are  told,  was 
"  moved  by  fear  "  to  prepare  an  ark,  and  in  that  ark 
both  he  and  his  family  were  saved.  So  the  storm  and 
flood  of  God's  anger  are  foretold  to  us  simply  that  we 
may  find  in  Christ  our  ark  of  safety.  With  safety 
comes  joy.  The  fear  by  which  Noah  had  been  moved 
was  only  the  dark  background  against  which  the  joy 
of  deliverance  shone  all  the  brighter.  And  so  the 
anguish  of  past  fear  gives  a  new  intensity  of  joy  to  the 
redeemed  soul  as  it  stands  on  the  firm  unshaken  rock 
of  Christ  and  his  promises  of  mercy.  And  then  with 
safety  comes  love  for  Christ  the  deliverer.  To  use 
the  comparison  of  an  old  writer,  true  fear  draws  after 
it  true  love,  as  the  needle  draws  after  it  the  thread. 
The  needle  pierces  at  first,  but  then  that  is  not  the 
permanent  thing.  It  only  makes  way  for  the  thread, 
and  the  thread  remains  after  the  needle  is  removed,  to 
unite  and  bind,  both  safely  and  strongly.  So  for 
him  who  casts  himself  wholly  into  Jesus'  arms,  fear  is 
utterly  removed  and  love  only  remains,  to  bind  God  to 
him  and  him  to  God.  Or  to  take  still  another  illustra- 
tion: Fear  is  only  like  the  grimy  tug  which  tows 
out  the  great  vessel  from  the  turbid  water  of  the  river 
until  she  reaches  the  clear  sea  and  fresh  breeze,  and, 
spreading  her  sails  and  catching  the  wind,  can  leave 
the  tug  behind  her.  So  the  soul  whose  first  thoughts 
of  religion  were  induced  by  fear  soon  leaves  all  fear 


l88  MISCELLANIES 

behind,  because  it  is  borne  onward  by  the  all-sufficient 
breeze  of  love,  and  sings  with  the  poet : 

Then  why,  O  blessed  Jesus  Christ ! 

Should  I  not  love  thee  well?    • 
Not  for  the  hope  of  winning  heaven, 

Nor  of  escaping  hell. 

Not  with  the  hope  of  gaining  aught; 

Not  seeking  a  reward  ; 
But  as  thyself  hast  loved  me, 

O  ever-loving  Lord ! 

E'en  so  I  love  thee,  and  will  love, 

And  in  thy  praise  will  sing; 
Solely  because  thou  art  my  God, 

And  my  eternal  King. 

Such  is  the  possible  and  proper  and  normal  condi- 
tion of  the  believer.  Why,  then,  does  the  Christian 
ever  fear?  Simply  because  he  leaves  Christ  and  comes 
down  to  the  low  ground  of  unbelief  and  sin.  Fear  is 
the  shadow  of  sin.  As  sin  grows  less,  so  will  fear 
grow  less;  when  sin  comes  to  an  end,  fear  will  come 
to  an  end  also.  As  Christ  is  the  Saviour  from  sin  then, 
so  he  is  the  Saviour  from  fear.  Fear  is  meant  all 
through  our  experience  to  show  us  our  need  of  Christ 
and  to  drive  us  to  Christ,  the  refuge  of  sinners.  When 
we  first  come  to  Christ  and  renounce  our  sins  the 
dominion  of  fear  is  broken.  But  it  resumes  its  power 
whenever  we  go  back  to  sin,  and  warns  us,  then,  that 
we  must  return  to  Christ  in  new  submission,  or  have 
our  portion  with  the  hypocrites.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  nearer  we  are  to  Christ  and  the  farther  from 
sin,  the  farther  we  are  from  fear.  As  we  merge  our 
lives  more  and  more  by  faith  in  the  all-conquering  life 


FEAR    IN    RELIGION  ICQ 

of  the  Redeemer,  fear  gradually  dies  away  and  love 
takes  its  place.  And  when  at  last  we  see  Christ  as  he 
is  and  are  prefectly  like  him,  the  last  possibility  of 
sin  and  the  last  possibility  of  fear  will  die  together. 
May  our  gracious  Lord  lead  you  all  along  this  happy 
path  of  a  growing  Christian  experience!  Be  will- 
ing to  let  him  draw  you  even  by  fear,  if  need  be,  for 
when  fear  has  served  its  purpose,  he  will  break  its 
power,  and  delivering  you  from  it  more  and  more 
as  he  delivers  you  from  sin,  will  lead  you  onward 
step  by  step  to  that  blessed  state  where  '*  perfect  love 
casts  out  all  fear." 

Thirty-eight  years  ago  a  student  of  Yale  College 
was  roused  to  see  the  worthlessness  and  wickedness  of 
his  past  life  and  to  cherish  poignant  fears  for  the 
future.  Fear  led  him  to  break  away  from  his  sins,  to 
seek  the  counsel  of  religious  friends,  to  announce  his 
determination  to  live  as  a  Christian.  God  blessed  his 
decision,  and  made  it  the  means  of  changing  his  own 
life  and  the  lives  of  many  others.  That  young  man 
is  older  now,  but  he  has  never  ceased  to  be  thankful 
that  God  sent  fear  to  arrest  him  in  his  course  and  to 
bring  him  to  repentance  and  faith.  And  he  urges 
upon  all  college  men  who  have  not  yet  begun  to  live 
for  God  a  like  fear,  a  like  decision,  a  like  faith.  Would 
to  God  that  I  might  induce  some  of  you,  my  friends, 
this  very  day,  to  renounce  all  evil  and  to  enter  upon 
the  service  of  Christ!  If  you  will  not  be  moved  by 
love,  be  moved  by  fear,  for  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  if  it 
is  not  the  end,  is  at  least  the  beginning,  of  wisdom! 


XXXII 

PAUL'S  THORN  IN  THE  FLESH  ' 

And  by  reason  of  the  exceeding  greatness  of  the  revela- 
tions, wherefore,  that  I  should  not  be  exalted  overmuch,  there 
was  given  to  me  a  thorn  in  the  flesh,  a  messenger  of  Satan  to 
buffet  me,  that  I  should  not  be  exalted  overmuch.  Concerning  this 
thing  I  besought  the  Lord  thrice,  that  it  might  depart  from  me. 
And  he  hath  said  unto  me.  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee :  for 
my  power  is  made  perfect  in  weakness.  Most  gladly  therefore 
will  I  rather  glory  in  my  weaknesses,  that  the  power  of  Christ 
may  rest  upon  me.    (2  Cor.  12:7-9.) 

Paul's  life,  like  Christ'.s,  was  one  of  great  contrasts — 
Jesus  went  up  to  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  but 
he  also  went  down  to  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane; 
Paul  had  visions  and  revelations  of  the  Lord,  but  he 
also  had  a  messenger  of  Satan  to  bufifet  him. 

The  vision  of  which  the  apostle  here  speaks  is  not 
recorded  in  the  book  of  Acts.  He  himself  tells  us 
that  it  was  more  than  fourteen  years  before  the  time 
when  he  wrote  this  epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  This 
would  place  it  during  his  sojourn  in  Antioch,  before 
his  first  missionary  journey  began.  The  vision  indeed 
was  a  sort  of  divine  preparation  for  his  missionary 
activity,  as  the  transfiguration  of  Christ  was  a  prepa- 
ration for  his  redemptive  suffering  upon  the  cross. 
For  once  Paul  was  caught  up  into  the  third  heaven 


1  A   sermon   preached   in    the   First    Baptist   Church,    New   Britain,    Conn., 
June  27,   1897. 

190 


Paul's  thorn  in  the  flesh  191 

and  heard  unspeakable  words,  words  that  it  would 
be  wrong  to  speak  on  account  of  their  sacredness. 
For  once  he  who  was  to  be  a  marvel  of  independent 
activity  became  the  object  of  another's  activity,  was 
carried  out  of  himself,  was  played  upon  as  a  passive 
instrument,  was  merged  in  the  life  and  power  of  his 
Lord.  Was  it  to  show  him  that  his  seeming  independ- 
ence was  after  all  only  another  manifestation  of  Christ, 
and  that  Christ  was  his  only  source  of  strength? 

However  this  may  be,  the  contrast  quickly  came. 
That  the  revelation  might  not  unduly  exalt  him,  there 
was  given  to  him  a  thorn  in  the  flesh.  It  is  Paul's 
Thorn  in  the  Flesh  that  I  take  for  my  theme.  The  first 
question  that  arises  is  with  regard  to  the  nature  of  this 
thorn.  What  was  the  thorn  in  the  flesh  of  which  Paul 
speaks  ?  Interpreters  have  widely  differed  here.  Some 
have  believed  that  spiritual  assaults  must  be  meant, 
such  as  blasphemous  thoughts  or  pangs  of  conscience 
on  account  of  his  past  persecutions  of  the  church. 
Others  have  referred  it  to  the  assaults  of  enemies  who 
served  Satan,  or  to  the  general  afflictions  and  hard- 
ships of  the  apostolic  ofiice.  Neither  of  these  explana- 
tions seems  satisfactory,  because  the  thorn  in  the  flesh 
was,  on  the  one  hand,  a  thorn — some  definite  trouble 
that  could  be  compared  only  to  the  continual  piercing 
of  a  thorn;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  thorn  in  the  flesh 
— some  bodily  trouble  that  greatly  hindered  the  apos- 
tle's comfort  and  usefulness.  But  granting  that  it  was 
a  physical  infirmity  to  which  Paul  alluded,  there  is  still 
a  great  variety  of  opinions  as  to  what  that  physical 
infirmity  was.  Was  it  melancholy  arising  from  an  im- 
perfectly nourished  brain,  such  as  possibly  caused  the 


192  MISCELLANIES 

flight  of  Elijah  from  the  threats  of  Jezebel?  Was  it 
headache,  hemorrhage,  fainting,  epilepsy?  Was  it  a 
constant  tendency  to  malarial  fever,  as  Professor  Ram- 
say supposes  ?  No  one  of  these  views  finds  corrobora- 
tion in  Paul's  life  or  writings.  The  trial  was  something 
local, — it  did  not  weaken  his  general  system,  since  his 
labors  continued  in  spite  of  it.  It  was  something  con- 
tinuous, that  was  always  threatening  his  usefulness; 
it  was  something  conspicuous,  so  that  all  could  see  it ; 
it  was  something  humiliating,  so  that  it  was  a  source  of 
constant  suffering  to  the  apostle.  Let  us  see  whether 
we  cannot  find  some  clue  to  the  nature  of  the  malady 
in  what  Paul  says  of  himself,  and  in  what  others  say 
of  him. 

His  opponents  at  Corinth  declared  of  him  that  his 
bodily  presence  was  weak.  There  was  something 
about  his  appearance  which  suggested  weakness.  He 
himself  felt  that  this  ill-looking  peculiarity  interfered 
with  the  success  of  his  preaching.  Not  only  did  his 
Corinthian  enemies  say  that  his  speech  was  of  no 
account,  but  he  told  them  that  he  was  with  them  in 
weakness  and  fear  and  much  trembling.  In  his  letter 
to  the  Galatians  he  seems  to  intimate  that  this  source 
of  weakness  in  his  public  address  was  a  disease  of  the 
eyes.  He  gratefully  remembers  that  when  he  first 
preached  to  them,  though  this  infirmity  of  his  tempted 
them  to  despise  and  reject  his  gospel,  they  still  re- 
ceived him  as  if  he  had  been  an  angel  of  God,  nay, 
as  if  he  had  been  Jesus  Christ  himself.  Instead  of 
ridiculing  him,  they  were  moved  to  pity.  "  I  bear  you 
witness,"  he  says,  "  that,  if  possible,  you  would  have 
plucked  out  your  eyes  and  given  them  to  me."     It 


Paul's  thorn  in  the  flesh  193 

was  apparently  some  sort  of  ophthalmia,  accompanied 
by  or  resulting  in  an  external  inflammation,  which 
not  only  disfigured  him  and  made  him  seem  contempt- 
ible to  those  who  had  not  learned  to  know  the  man, 
but  also  prevented  him  from  seeing  clearly,  and  made 
concentration  of  vision  painful  to  himself. 

We  have  learned  in  our  later  days  that  trouble  with 
the  eyes  may  simulate  many  other  diseases  of  stomach 
and  brain.  The  effort  required  to  accommodate  the 
sight  to  various  distances  may  produce  nervous  pros- 
tration. It  is  significant  that  Paul  wrote  none  of  his 
epistles  with  his  own  hand.  He  always  dictated  them 
to  an  amanuensis.  This  fact  made  it  possible  for  his 
enemies  to  forge  letters  in  his  name,  and  there  is  some 
evidence  that  such  forged  letters  were  in  existence. 
To  make  his  readers  sure  that  any  given  epistle  was 
indeed  written  by  him,  he  therefore  added,  to  what 
the  amanuensis  had  written,  a  few  lines  in  his  own 
hand.  But  this  appears  to  have  been  an  effort  to  him. 
The  condition  of  his  eyes  made  it  difficult  for  him 
to  write  in  small  characters,  or  what  we  would  call 
"  a  fine  hand."  At  the  close  of  the  letter  to  the 
Galatians,  then,  he  appends  these  words :  "  See  with 
how  large  letters  I  write  to  you  with  my  own  hand." 
The  large  characters,  so  different  from  the  small  let- 
ters which  the  amanuensis  had  used,  would  be  an  af- 
fecting witness  to  the  brethren  of  Galatia  that  it  was 
indeed  the  half-blind  Paul  who  had  sent  them  the 
Epistle. 

Can  we  trace  back  this  malady  to  its  beginning? 
It  seems  as  if  it  were  connected  with  Paul's  conver- 
sion.    On  the  way  to  Damascus  there  shone  around 

N 


194  MISCELLANIES 

him  a  light  out  of  heaven,  so  bright  that  it  took  away 
his  sight  and  smote  him  to  the  dust.  He  fell  upon 
the  earth,  and  when  he  arose  he  could  no  longer  see. 
One  glimpse  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ  had  stricken  him  blind.  His  companions  "  led 
him  by  the  hand  and  brought  him  to  Damascus,  and 
he  was  three  days  without  sight,  and  did  neither  eat 
nor  drink."  As  by  miracle  he  lost  his  sight,  so  by 
miracle  he  recovered  it.  Ananias  laid  hands  upon  him, 
"  and  straightway  there  fell  from  his  eyes,  as  it  were, 
scales,  and  he  received  his  sight."  Those  three  days 
of  blindness  were  a  symbol  to  him  of  the  blindness 
of  his  ignorance  and  unbelief,  and  the  new  light  that 
streamed  in  upon  him  was  a  symbol  of  the  knowledge 
and  joy  that  proceeded  from  his  crucified  and  risen 
Saviour.  Is  it  too  much  to  believe  that  some  portion 
of  that  physical  evil  was  permitted  to  remain,  to  re- 
mind him  of  his  past  sin  and  of  his  wonderful  deliver- 
ance? Some  think  that  Paul's  inability  to  recognize 
the  high  priest,  when  he  was  summoned  before  the 
Sanhedrin,  was  due  to  defective  vision.  The  high 
priest  had  commanded  him  to  be  smitten  on  the  mouth, 
and  Paul  had  said  in  his  indignation :  "  God  shall 
smite  thee,  thou  whited  wall!  and  sittest  thou  to  judge 
me  according  to  the  law,  and  commandest  me  to  be 
smitten  contrary  to  the  law  ?  "  When  those  that 
stood  by  rebuked  him :  "  Revilest  thou  God's  high 
priest?"  Paul  replied:  "I  knew  not,  brethren,  that 
he  was  the  high  priest."  It  was  possibly  his  imper- 
fect sight  that  prevented  him  from  perceiving  the 
peculiarities  of  dress  which  distinguished  the  high 
priest  from  the  rest  of  his  judges. 


Paul's  thorn  in  the  flesh  195 

Thus  it  appears  most  probable  that  Paul's  thorn  in 
the  flesh  was  a  disease  of  the  eyes,  which  constituted 
a  humbling  reminder  of  his  unbelieving  days,  when  he 
persecuted  Christ  in  the  persons  of  his  disciples,  and 
a  perpetual  hindrance  to  the  successful  accomplish- 
ment of  his  mission  of  preaching  the  gospel.  I  do 
not  claim  that  the  evidence  of  this  is  demonstrative, 
but  only  that  it  makes  this  conclusion  more  probable 
than  any  other.  Fortunately  it  is  not  necessary  for  us 
to  reach  absolute  certainty  with  regard  to  the  nature 
of  the  thorn  in  the  flesh.  Other  matters  about  which 
we  may  be  certain  are  of  greater  practical  importance. 
Let  me  call  your  attention  then  to  a  second  question: 
In  what  sense  was  this  thorn  in  the  flesh  a  messenger 
of  Satan  to  buffet  Paul?  We  may  put  the  question 
more  generally :  What  relation  has  Satan  to  the  phys- 
ical evils  with  which  the  Christian  is  often  afflicted? 

There  is  a  sense  in  which  Satan  may  be  regarded 
as  the  author  of  all  evil.  He  was  the  first  transgressor, 
and  the  first  example  of  sin.  It  is  he  who  led  astray 
our  first  parents,  according  to  Scripture.  He  is  not 
only  himself  a  liar,  but  he  is  the  father  of  lies,  be- 
cause he  has  led  multitudes  of  other  beings  into  self- 
deception,  and  deception  of  their  fellows.  He  is  called 
a  murderer,  and  is  said  to  have  the  power  of  death, 
because  he  has  persuaded  the  whole  race  of  man,  with 
the  single  exception  of  Christ,  to  commit  spiritual 
suicide,  to  cut  itself  off  from  the  life  and  love  of  God, 
and  to  expose  itself  to  physical  and  eternal  death. 
He  is  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  and  he  is 
said  to  work  even  now  in  the  children  of  disobedience. 
The  torments  of  conscience  can  be  indirectlv  attributed 


196  '  MISCELLANIES 

to  him,  for  it  is  he  who  by  temptation  brings  men 
under  the  reproaches  of  their  moral  nature.  And 
since  all  physical  evil  is  mediately  or  immediately  the 
result  of  sin,  all  physical  evil  may  be  referred  to 
Satan  as  its  author. 

Certain  passages  of  Scripture  seem  to  go  farther 
than  this,  and  to  imply  that  external  nature  and  the 
human  body  are  to  some  extent  given  over  to  Satan's 
control.  In  the  book  of  Job,  Satan  is  permitted  to 
afflict  the  just  man,  in  order  to  prove  and  to  perfect 
his  virtue.  Winds  and  lightnings  and  disease  are  all 
made  for  a  time  his  servants.  When  Jesus  walks 
upon  the  sea,  he  rebukes  the  winds  and  the  waves,  as 
if  their  commotion  had  been  due  to  a  supernatural 
and  malignant  intelligence.  Jesus  speaks  of  a  poor, 
decrepit  woman,  bowed  together  and  unable  to  lift 
herself  up,  as  "  one  whom  Satan  hath  bound  these 
eighteen  years."  And,  in  the  Acts,  Peter  speaks  of 
this  same  Jesus  as  going  about  "  doing  good  and  heal- 
ing all  who  were  oppressed  by  the  devil."  Upon  the 
ground  of  such  passages  the  mediaeval  Roman  Church 
built  up  an  enormous  fabric  of  superstition,  and  at- 
tributed to  Satan  an  almost  complete  control  over 
nature  and  over  the  physical  system  of  man.  He 
could  be  exorcised  only  by  holy  water  and  by  priestly 
conjurations.  The  Reformers  inherited  more  or  less 
of  this  superstitious  exaggeration  of  Satan's  power. 
Luther  saw  Satan  nearer  to  man  than  his  coat,  or  his 
shirt,  or  even  his  skin.  In  all  misfortune  he  saw  the 
devil's  work.  Was  there  a  conflagration  in  the  town? 
By  looking  closely  you  might  see  a  demon  blowing 
upon  the  flame.     Pestilence  and  storm  he  attributed  to 


Paul's  thorn  in  the  flesh  197 

Satan.  Men  might  even  make  covenants  with  the  Evil 
One,  like  that  of  Faust,  who  purchased  supernatural 
power  at  the  price  of  final  perdition. 

All  this  is  a  wholly  unwarrantable  extreme.  There 
is  an  opposite  extreme  which  denies  the  existence  of 
a  personal  adversary  or  his  influence  in  nature.  Scrip- 
ture doctrine  is  midway  between  these  two  opposite 
exaggerations.  The  truth  seems  to  be  that  Satan 
is  permitted,  for  special  reasons  of  God's  providence, 
to  exert  occasional  influence  upon  nature  and  to  use 
its  laws  and  agencies  with  a  higher  intelligence  than 
man's.  There  seems  to  have  been  permitted  a  special 
activity  of  Satan  in  temptation  and  possession  dur- 
ing our  Saviour's  ministry,  in  order  that  Christ's 
power  might  be  demonstrated.  But  Satan's  power  is 
limited,  both  In  time  and  in  extent,  by  the  permissive 
will  of  God.  Satan  is  neither  omnipotent,  omniscient, 
nor  omnipresent.  We  are  to  attribute  disease  and 
natural  calamity  to  his  agency,  only  when  this  is 
matter  of  special  revelation.  Opposed  to  God  as  Satan 
is,  God  compels  him  to  serve  his  purposes.  His  power 
for  harm  lasts  but  for  a  season,  and  ultimate  judgment 
and  punishment  will  vindicate  God's  permission  of  his 
evil  agency. 

So  we  grant  that  Paul's  thorn  in  the  flesh  was, 
just  as  he  describes  it,  "  a  messenger  of  Satan,  sent 
to  buffet  me."  Yet  all  this  was  permitted  by  God.  A 
third  question  now  suggests  itself :  How  are  we  to 
understand  God's  permission  of  this  thorn  in  the  flesh 
which  Satan  makes  the  means  of  so  much  evil?  We 
can  only  answer  that  the  permission  of  satanic  tempta- 
tion is  a  striking  instance  of  the  permission  of  moral 


198  MISCELLANIES 

evil  in  general,  and  is  to  be  explained,  if  we  can  ex- 
plain it  at  all,  upon  the  same  principle.  This  is  a  moral 
universe,  a  universe  for  the  development  of  virtue. 
And  virtue  is  impossible  without  freedom,  probation, 
and  the  possibility  of  falling  into  sin.  Another  sort 
of  universe  can  be  conceived  of,  but  it  would  not  be 
a  universe  worth  the  having, — it  would  be  a  universe 
where  good  would  be  rendered  certain  by  constraint 
upon  the  individual  will.  But  such  good  would  be  no 
good,  for  it  would  be  compulsion  and  necessity.  A 
father  may  possibly  keep  his  little  son  from  trans- 
gression by  following  him  constantly  with  a  whip,  or 
by  watching  him  continually  through  keyholes.  But 
such  obedience  will  be  exchanged  for  lawlessness  and 
riot  so  soon  as  the  boy  escapes  from  his  father's  eye 
and  control.  No  true  virtue  can  be  developed  in  that 
way.  Goodness  can  be  attained  only  when  there  is 
freedom  to  disobey.  The  law  must  be  proclaimed, 
motives  to  obedience  must  be  presented ;  but  then  the 
will  must  be  left  to  do  the  right,  or,  if  it  please,  to  do 
the  wrong.  A  universe  of  puppets,  made  to  go  only 
as  they  were  pulled  by  strings,  would  not  be  a  uni- 
verse worthy  of  God,  nor  of  any  moral  value.  God 
wants  only  free  obedience.  He  wants  love,  but  love 
that  is  freely  given.  He  wants  creatures  like  himself 
in  moral  character,  as  they  can  only  be  by  choosing, 
of  their  own  free  will,  to  be  like  him. 

Now  such  a  universe  as  this  involves  the  possibility 
of  moral  evil,  of  self-perversion,  of  sin  and  misery 
and  death.  But  the  system  in  which  sin  is  a  possible 
incident,  or  even  a  certain  incident,  may  be  preferable 
to  a  system  in  which  there  is  no  freedom,  or  to  no 


Paul's  thorn  in  the  flesh  199 

system  at  all.  Shall  we  shut  God  out  from  the  possi- 
bility of  creating,  simply  because  creation  may  in- 
volve sin?  Not  so.  And  especially  not  so,  since  at 
the  same  time  that  God  permits  moral  evil,  he  provides 
a  remedy  for  it — the  Lamb  slain  from  before  the  foun- 
dation of  the  world.  Let  us  remember  that  God  never 
is  himself  the  author  of  sin — it  is  the  greatest  of 
blasphemies  to  attribute  evil  to  the  Holy  One — he  can- 
not himself  be  tempted  by  evil,  neither  tempteth  he  any 
man.  He  is  simply  the  author  of  free  beings  who,  in 
their  own  perversity  and  rebellion,  are  themselves  the 
authors  of  sin. 

That  Satan  is  permitted  to  tempt  is  no  more  incon- 
sistent with  God's  goodness  than  that  men  are  permit- 
ted to  tempt.  It  is  no  more  wonderful  that  Satan 
should  have  been  permitted  to  test  the  faith  of  the 
apostle  by  inflicting  his  thorn  in  the  flesh,  than  it  is 
that  wicked  men  should  have  been  permitted  to  test 
his  faith  by  their  opposition  to  his  preaching.  No 
argument  against  God's  permission  of  satanic  tempta- 
tion can  be  urged  which  would  not  equally  apply  to 
God's  permission  of  human  temptation.  This  is  a  vast 
universe,  and  our  moral  life  is  conducted  amid  a  net- 
work of  influences  from  both  the  natural  and  the  super- 
natural worlds.  Our  warfare  is  not  simply  with  flesh 
and  blood.  The  principalities  and  powers  of  darkness 
are  contending  for  our  souls  with  the  principalities 
and  powers  of  light.  It  is  a  great  struggle,  but  it  only 
illustrates  the  value  of  the  soul  and  the  solemnity  of 
our  probation.  Even  Paul  the  apostle  has  to  fight 
the  good  fight  before  he  can  finish  his  course  and  re- 
ceive his  crown.     Even  he,  like  Bunyan's  Pilgrim  in 


200  MISCELLANIES 

the  Dark  Valley,  must  have  his  hand-to-hand  conflict 
with  Apollyon. 

Satan's  temptations  do  not  mean  defeat,  but  con- 
quest and  uplifting,  to  him  who  summons  his  will  to 
resist.  Resist  the  devil  and  he  will  flee  from  you. 
Temptation  has  in  itself  no  tendency  to  lead  the  soul 
astray.  If  the  soul  is  holy,  temptation  may  only  con- 
firm it  in  virtue.  Only  the  evil  will,  self-determined 
against  God,  can  turn  temptation  into  an  occasion  of 
ruin.  As  the  sun's  heat  has  no  tendency  to  wither  the 
plant  rooted  in  deep  and  moist  soil,  but  only  causes 
the  plant  to  send  down  its  roots  the  deeper  and  to 
fasten  itself  the  more  strongly,  so  temptation  has  in 
itself  no  tendency  to  pervert  the  soul.  It  was  only 
the  seeds  that  "  fell  upon  the  rocky  places  where  they 
had  not  much  earth "  that  "  were  scorched "  when 
"  the  sun  was  risen  " ;  and  our  Lord  attributes  their 
failure,  not  to  the  sun,  but  to  their  lack  of  root  and  of 
soil.  The  same  temptation  that  occasions  the  ruin  of 
the  false  disciple  stimulates  to  sturdy  growth  the  vir- 
tue of  the  true  Christian,  And  so  the  same  temptation 
which  Satan  means  for  evil,  God  means  for  good; 
the  same  thorn  in  the  flesh  which  from  one  point  of 
view  is  Satan's  work  is  from  the  higher  point  of  view 
God's  appointment.     So  Robert  Browning  can  say  : 

Temptation  sharp?     Thank  God  a  second  time! 
Why  comes  temptation  but  for  man  to  meet 
And  master,  and  make  crouch  beneath  his  foot. 
And  so  be  pedestaled  in  triumph !     Pray 
"Lead  us  into  no  such  temptations,  Lord"? 
Yea,  but,  "  O  thou  whose  servants  are  the  bold. 
Lead  such  temptations  by  the   head  and  hair, 
Rehictant  dragons,  up  to  who  dares  fight. 
That  so  he  may  do  battle  and  have  praise." 


PAULS    THORN    IN    THE    FLESH  20I 

But  now  a  fourth  and  last  question  must  be  an- 
swered. It  is  this:  Does  God  look  on  unmoved  and 
uninterested  while  Satan  uses  the  thorn  in  the  flesh 
to  harass  and  afflict  Paul?  If  it  were  so,  then  the 
struggle  would  be  not  only  momentous,  but  also  ap- 
palling. I  have  already  suggested  that  God  permitted 
the  struggle  only  in  view  of  the  Cross,  and  that  the 
very  corner-stone  of  the  system  of  things  was  Christ. 
That  same  Saviour  whose  life  has  entered  into  nature 
and  humanity  has  been  himself  afflicted  in  all  the  afflic- 
tions of  the  race.  The  decree  of  redemption  is  as  old 
as  the  permission  of  apostasy,  and  no  sacrifice  and 
suffering  on  account  of  sin  has  been  undergone  by  any 
man  equal  to  that  which  has  been  endured  by  our  in- 
carnate God.  God  has  permitted  the  thorn  in  the  flesh 
only  because  he  has  seen  it  to  be  a  necessary  means 
for  the  perfecting  of  Christian  character  and  for  draw- 
ing the  Christian  nearer  to  himself.  See  how  the  dis- 
cipline works  in  the  case  of  Paul.  He  beseeches  the 
Lord  thrice  that  the  thorn  may  depart  from  him,  and 
that  he  may  be  depressed  and  humiliated  no  longer. 
But  the  thorn  is  not  taken  away;  Paul  only  receives 
grace  to  bear  it.  Ah,  my  friends,  there  is  the  solution 
of  the  mystery :  God's  grace  brings  victory  over  Satan, 
and  the  assaults  of  the  adversary  are  made  the  means 
of  glorifying  the  Saviour.  How  often  we  have  seen 
the  face  lit  up  with  resignation  and  hope,  even  while 
the  thorn  was  piercing  the  side!  Even  as  Jesus  him- 
self stripped  off  the  thronging  hosts  of  evil  spirits  that 
wrapped  him  like  a  garment  upon  the  cross  and  tri- 
umphed over  them  in  the  very  cross  which  they  had 
brought  him,  so  he  enabled  his  apostle  to  make  the 


202  MISCELLANIES 

very  thorn  in  the  flesh  the  means  of  loftier  spiritual 
attainment  and  of  more  perfect  union  with  his  Lord. 

John  Milton  spoke  of  "  the  unresistible  might  of 
weakness."  It  was  a  reminiscence  of  Paul's  experi- 
ence. He  does  not  mean  that  weakness  itself  is 
strength.  He  only  means  that  our  weakness  is  the 
occasion  for  the  exercise  of  divine  power.  Man's  ex- 
tremity is  God's  opportunity.  When  we  feel  our  weak- 
ness most,  then  we  are  most  ready  to  receive  help  from 
God ;  then  God  can  most  completely  take  possession  of 
us.  "  Most  gladly  therefore  will  I  rather  glory  in  my 
weaknesses,"  says  the  apostle,  "  that  the  power  of 
Christ  may  rest  upon  me  (or  spread  a  tabernacle  over 
me).  Wherefore,  I  take  pleasure  in  weaknesses,  in  in- 
juries, in  necessities,  in  persecutions,  in  distresses,  for 
Christ's  sake:  for  when  I  am  weak,  then  am  I  strong." 
And  so  spiritual  strength  is  fostered  by  bodily  weak- 
ness, and  with  the  thorn  in  the  flesh  Christ  gives  the 
greatest  joys  of  the  spirit. 

Have  ycu  a  thorn  in  the  flesh  ?  Some  secret  infirm- 
ity of  body  or  trouble  of  mind,  which  seems  at  times 
the  very  minister  of  Satan  to  destroy  your  usefulness 
and  block  your  way  to  heaven?  Is  there  some  appetite 
that  clamors  for  indulgence,  some  affection  that  longs 
for  satisfaction,  till  at  times  you  think  the  conflict  in- 
supportable? Have  others  injured  you  or  slandered 
you?  Are  outward  circumstances  untoward?  Is  ridi- 
cule your  portion  when  you  try  to  do  good  ?  And  is 
this  thorn  in  the  flesh  something  so  sharp  that  you  can- 
not forget  it,  yet  so  fixed  that  you  cannot  remove  it? 
Perhaps  you  have  concluded  that  because  Satan  has 
something  to  do  with  it  your  only  course  is  to  hate  it 


Paul's  thorn  in  the  flesh  203 

and  despair.  Dear  friend,  you  mistake.  Satan's  agency 
does  not  exclude  God's.  Satan  means  it  for  evil,  but 
God  permits  it  for  good.  Satan  would  make  it  the 
means  of  your  undoing.  God  intends  it  to  test  you, 
to  stimulate  you,  to  show  you  your  own  weakness,  but 
to  show  you  also  his  power  to  save.  Do  not  let  Satan 
have  his  way !  Cry  mightily  to  God !  He  will  enable 
you  to  overcome,  and  to  tread  down  Satan  under  your 
feet.  He  may  not  take  av/ay  the  thorn,  but  he  will 
surely  say  to  every  one  who  trusts  him :  "  My  grace  is 
sufficient  for  thee;  for  my  power  is  made  perfect  in 
weakness." 

King  Henry  the  Seventh  had  as  his  emblem,  in  all 
the  windows  of  his  palaces  and  churches,  a  carven 
crown  in  a  bush  of  thorns.  It  had  a  double  significance. 
On  the  one  hand,  in  this  life  there  are  thorns  for  every 
crown  of  pleasure  or  riches  or  power  or  honor;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  for  all  the  thorns  that  pierce  the  flesh 
during  the  Christian's  earthly  pilgrimage  there  is  a 
crown  of  glory  in  God's  future  kingdom.  Let  me  add 
to  Henry  the  Seventh's  emblem  this  meaning  also : 
We  do  not  have  to  wait  for  the  kingdom,  but  we  have 
it  even  here.  John  speaks  of  the  kingdom  and  patience 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Bearing  the  thorn  in  the 
flesh,  in  tb.e  strength  of  Christ,  we  have  already  vic- 
tory achieved  and  heaven  begun.  We  are  more  than 
conquerors  through  him  that  loved  us ;  our  very  pains 
are, turned  to  pleasures;  and,  whether  we  see  it  or  not, 
the  angels  see,  and  God  our  Father  sees,  the  amaran- 
thine crown  upon  our  brows. 


XXXIII 
CHRIST'S  MORAL  SYSTEM 


Finally,  brethren,  whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things 
are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are 
pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of 
good  report,  if  there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise, 
think  on  these  things.     (Phil.  4:8.) 

It  has  sometimes  been  urged  as  an  objection  to 
Christianity  that,  if  it  does  not  cultivate  really  ignoble 
qualities  of  character,  it  certainly  leaves  out  of  its 
plan  of  human  development  some  of  the  elements  of 
true  manhood,  and  so  is  false  by  defect.  It  has  seemed 
to  me  that  a  sermon  upon  Christian  morality,  its  essen- 
tial characteristics  and  aims,  might  remove  any  such 
unjust  impressions  and  convince  us  of  its  supreme 
claims  upon  us.  I  shall  best  accomplish  my  purpose 
by  arranging  my  thoughts  in  a  series  of  answers  to  the 
question:  In  what  respects  is  the  moral  teaching  of 
the  Christian  system  superior  to  the  moral  teachings  of 
other  systems  of  religion?  Of  course  I  mean  by  the 
Christian  system,  not  the  practices  or  prejudices  of  any 
given  body  of  men  who  call  themselves  Christians,  but 
the  teachings  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  as  we  find 
them  in  the  New  Testament.  Let  us  go  to  the  fountain- 
heads  and  judge  each  system  by  the  words  of  its  foun- 

^  A  sermon   preached  in   the   Emmanuel    Baptist   Church,    Albany,    N.    Y., 
July  29,  1883. 

204 


CHRIST  S    MORAL   SYSTEM  205 

ders.  If  possible  let  us  look  at  Christian  morality  and 
other  systems  of  morality  in  their  essential  principles, 
and  determine  which  is  most  worthy  of  our  study  and 
adoption. 

The  words  of  the  apostle  which  I  have  taken  for  my 
text  intimate,  first  of  all,  that  the  moral  precepts  of 
Christianity  are  not  necessarily  new  or  undiscoverable 
by  human  reason,  but  that  their  superiority  lies  rather 
in  their  combination  and  complete  freedom  from  error. 
It  cannot  be  denied,  nor  should  we  wish  to  deny,  that 
more  or  less  clear  adumbrations  of  Christ's  noblest 
precepts  occasionally  appear  in  the  writings  of  heathen 
who  lived  before  his  advent,  or  who  knew  nothing  of         ^  ^  / 

his  teachings.  Confucius  published  the  Golden  Rule 
when  he  said :  "  What  you  wish  done  to  yourself, 
do  to  others,"  and  declared  that  his  doctrine  consisted 
in  "  having  the  heart,  and  in  loving  one's  neighbor  as 
one's  self."  "  Hatred,"  says  a  Buddhist  sacred  book, 
"  does  not  cease  by  hatred  at  any  time ;  hatred  ceases  by 
love — this  is  the  eternal  rule."  "  It  is  never  right  to 
return  an  injury,"  says  Plato.  "  A  philosopher,  when 
smitten,  must  love  those  that  smite  him,  as  if  he  were 
the  father,  the  brother  of  all  men,"  said  Epictetus.  "It 
is  peculiar  to  man,"  said  Marcus  Antoninus,  "  to  love 
even  those  who  do  wrong.  Ask  thyself  daily  to  how 
many  ill-minded  persons  thou  hast  shown  a  kind  dis- 
position." "  He  compares  the  wise  and  humane  soul," 
says  a  recent  writer,  "  to  a  spring  of  pure  water  which 
blesses  even  him  who  curses  it ;  and  the  Oriental  story 
likens  such  a  soul  to  the  sandalwood  tree,  which  im- 
parts its  fragrance  even  to  the  axe  which  cuts  it 
down." 


206  MISCELLANIES 

There  are  such  precepts  as  these  in  the  writings  of 
heathen  morahsts.  But  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to 
suppose  that  on  this  account  the  moral  systems  of  the 
heathen  could  bear  comparison  with  that  of  Christ. 
For  such  precepts  as  these  are  rare  indeed  before 
Christ  came ;  rather  the  venturous  guesses  of  a  noble 
mood  than  the  fundamental  principles  upon  which  a 
whole  body  of  doctrine  was  built;  single  rays  of  the 
true  light  flashing  out  amid  great  darkness,  rather  than 
indications  that  universal  benevolence  was  recognized, 
even  in  philosophy,  as  the  soul  of  morals.  Side  by 
side  with  these  fragmentary  glimpses  of  truth  are  mul- 
titudinous and  fatal  errors.  Confucius,  for  example, 
recognized  no  personal  God  as  the  author  of  law  and 
the  model  of  love;  the  worship  of  an  abstract  heaven 
and  an  abstract  earth  which  he  established  was  united 
with  a  worship  of  departed  spirits  and  a  worship  of 
himself.  Buddhism  likewise  was  a  moral  system  de- 
void of  all  authority,  because  it  confessed  no  supreme 
God,  who  was  at  once  Legislator  and  Judge ;  while  by 
substituting  for  God's  approbation  the  selfish  motive  of 
accumulating  a  stock  of  merits,  it  made  virtue  to  be  a 
mere  calculating  prudence,  Plato  held  that  men  needed 
no  motive  but  the  right  itself — if  you  taught  them 
right  they  would  be  sure  to  do  it — and  then  in  his  ideal 
Republic  he  abolished  marriage  and  the  family,  en- 
couraged some  most  shameless  vices,  and  provided  for 
the  putting  to  death  of  young  children  that  were  dis- 
eased or  deformed.  Epictetus  had  for  his  ultimate  vir- 
tue a  philosophic  insensibility ;  we  should  not  suffer 
ourselves  to  be  troubled  by  anything  external,  nor  be 
moved  in  the  least  by  the  sufferings  or  the  wickedness 


Christ's  moral  system  207 

of  our  neighbors;  even  the  wife  and  children  of  the 
philosopher  should  be  reckoned  as  things  external  to 
him.  And  Marcus  Aurelius,  Stoic  as  he  was,  was  a 
prey  to  superstition,  and  persecuted  Christianity.  "  The 
uncertainty  and  nothingness  of  all  human  things," 
says  another,  "  the  resistless  stream  of  life  in  whose 
vortex  all  being  is  swallowed  up  and  disappears,  was 
the  ever-recurring  burden  of  his  thoughts.  Sorrow  and 
disappointment  cast  a  black  veil  of  mourning  over  his 
whole  system  of  contemplation  and  over  almost  every 
one  of  his  reflections.  '  Farewell  to  hope !  all  ye  who 
enter  here,'  was  the  inscription  over  the  gate  leading 
to  the  Sanctuary  of  the  Stoa." 

I  have  thus  set  the  errors  and  defects  of  these 
heathen  writers  over  against  their  occasional  utterances 
of  moral  truth,  not  to  disparage  them,  but  simply  to 
show  the  relation  they  sustain  to  Christ.  They  give  us 
faint  rays  of  light,  like  the  first  glimmerings  of  the 
dawn,  but  Christ  is  the  Sun,  from  whose  unseen-  disk 
all  their  light  proceeded,  and  who  gathers  up  all  into 
himself  when  once  he  has  risen  upon  the  world.  It  is 
no  objection  to  Christianity  that  some  of  its  truths 
were  dimly  perceived  before  Jesus  came.  This  only 
shows  that  Christianity  is  founded  on  the  needs  and 
constitution  of  human  nature,  and  therefore  is  eternal  c 

truth,    just   as   the   great   doctrines    of   our    religion,      ^^"5*^  'T 
Trinity^    Incarnation.     Atonement,     Judgment     were  :         Qu^^ 
faintly  foreshadowed  by  the  wild  mythologies  and  rites  j 
of  paganism;  and  this  only  proves  that  human  nature  ] 
craves  such  doctrines  to  satisfy  its  wants,  but  finds  / 
its   satisfaction   only   in   the   clear   revelations   of  the 
Scriptures.     So  the  broken  lights  of  morality  among 


208  MISCELLANIES 

the  heathen  point  in  Hke  manner  to  Christ,  the  great 
Light  of  the  World.  See  how  Jesus  teaches  not  simply 
the  truth  that  Confucius  taught,  or  that  Plato  taught, 
or  that  Epictetus  taught,  but  all  the  truth  that  all  these 
masters  taught  and  ten  thousand  times  as  much  be- 
sides— and  that  without  a  single  one  of  the  mistakes 
and  falsities  that  mingled  with  the  teaching  of  every 
one  of  these.  It  is  the  combination  of  all  these  separate 
glories  in  the  teachings  of  Christ,  and  the  unbroken 
majesty  and  purity  and  beauty  of  them  that  justifies 
us  in  saying:  "  Never  man  spake  like  this  man."  And 
this  characteristic  of  the  Christian  morality  is  intimated 
in  the  text.  Christianity  is  not  anxious  to  assert  the 
absolute  originality  of  all  the  words  of  Christ.  It 
takes  up  and  appropriates  and  combines  within  itself 
"  whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are 
honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things 
are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever 
things  are  of  good  report." 

But  allowing  that  there  is  a  combination  of  excel- 
lencies in  the  teachings  of  Christ,  such  as  surpasses  the 
moral  precepts  of  all  other  masters,  is  it  true  that  this 
combination  includes  everything?  Are  the  morals  of 
Christianity  perfect  in  their  fulness — do  they  embrace 
every  virtue ;  do  they  condemn  every  vice  ?  Some  say 
no.  John  Stuart  Mill,  for  example,  wonders  that  any 
one  who  derives  his  knowledge  of  Christian  morality 
from  the  Bible  itself  can  suppose  that  it  was  announced 
or  intended  as  a  complete  doctrine  of  morals.  Now, 
in  one  sense  Mr.  Mill's  statement  is  true,  while  in 
another  it  is  very  untrue.  Christian  morality  is  cer- 
tainly not  all-comprehensive,  in  the  sense  of  affording 


Christ's  moral  system  209 

definite  rules  for  all  the  possible  emergencies  and  con- 
tingencies of  human  life.  It  is  impossible  in  the  very 
nature  of  things  that  the  Scriptures  should  contain 
such  a  code.  Take  an  illustration  from  civil  law. 
When  I  lived  in  Ohio  I  found  that,  though  the  State 
government  there  had  been  in  existence  only  about 
seventy-five  years,  the  statutes  enacted  by  its  legisla- 
tures in  that  brief  period  already  formed  a  library  of 
themselves,  the  mazes  of  which  only  a  lawyer  could 
thread.  It  took  the  two  houses  at  Columbus  months 
every  year  to  keep  the  laws  of  the  Commonwealth  any- 
where nearly  abreast  with  the  progress  and  wants  of 
the  people.  Now,  suppose  Jesus  had  attempted,  and 
God  had  permitted,  the  enunciation  of  minute  rules 
for  every  congeries  of  circumstances  that  might  arise 
in  the  course  of  ages,  in  the  moral  life  of  individuals 
and  of  society  and  of  the  church,  why,  the  world  itself, 
to  use  John's  hyperbole,  could  not  contain  the  books 
that  would  have  been  written.  The  whole  system  of 
moral  teaching  would  have  broken  down  by  its  own 
weight.  And  even  this  would  not  have  been  the  worst 
feature  of  the  case.  Allowing  that  such  a  system  of 
directions  could  ever  have  been  put  to  use  by  the  mass 
of  men,  a  thing  in  itself  manifestly  impossible,  would 
the  effect  of  such  marking  out  of  every  human  duty 
be  salutary  upon  human  mind  and  conscience?  Who 
does  not  know  that  one  of  the  grandest  parts  of  our 
moral  discipline  and  education  is  the  weighing  of  ques- 
tions of  duty,  the  exercise  of  our  intellects  upon  them, 
and  the  testing  of  our  candor  and  justice  involved 
therein?  To  have  before  us  from  moment  to  moment 
fixed  orders  for  each  act  of  life  and  to  determine  duty 
o 


2IO  MISCELLANIES 

mechanically  by  the  use  of  some  sort  of  "  ready  reck- 
oner " — this  would  be  to  take  away  one  of  the  noblest 
instruments  of  our  moral  development,  and  to  reduce 
us  permanently  to  the  condition  of  moral  childhood. 

There  must  be  then  some  limitation  in  the  moral  pre- 
cepts of  Christianity,  as  regards  their  scope.  Some 
things  must  be  omitted  if  anything  is  to  be  really  ac- 
complished, and  this  limitation  is  not  a  mark  of  imper- 
fection, but  of  wisdom.  The  first  limit  that  is  assigned 
is  this:  The  Scriptures  do  not  profess  to  give  specific 
directions  as  to  conduct  in  the  varying  circumstances 
of  life,  so  much  as  to  indicate  the  internal  affections 
and  virtues  that  are  to  be  cultivated,  and  to  insist  upon 
them.  There  is  great  foresight  here;  for,  once  let 
the  inward  virtues  establish  themselves,  whatever  the 
circumstances  may  be,  the  virtues  will  turn  these  cir- 
cumstances into  occasions  for  manifesting  themselves. 
You  have  all  been  struck  at  times  by  noting  how 
Christ's  Beatitudes  are  all  conferred  upon  characteris- 
tics of  mind  and  heart.  You  all  remember  how  Paul's 
catalogue  of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  is  a  catalogue  of 
inward  graces  of  character — "  love,  joy,  peace,  long- 
suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  tem- 
perance." And  then  the  exercise  of  these  virtues  is 
enjoined  toward  all  men,  and  in  all  the  relations  of  life. 
So  the  Scripture  morality  is  an  exhibition  of  principles 
rather  than  rules,  of  principles  which  we  are  ourselves 
to  apply,  and  to  use  our  judgment  and  conscience  in 
applying.  Whatever  practical  conjunctures  of  circum- 
stances are  referred  to  in  the  Scripture  precepts  are 
referred  to  in  the  way  of  illustration  of  these  prin- 
ciples, not  as  an  attempt  to  exhaust  all  possible  cases 


Christ's  moral  system  211 

and  furnish  us  with  an  apphcation  of  each  principle 
to  all  the  circumstances  that  might  arise.  Now  I  ask 
whether  this  plan  of  publishing  a  moral  system  is  not 
infinitely  more  wise  than  that  of  those  Middle  Age 
doctors  who  wrote  their  endless  works  upon  casuistry 
or  cases  of  conscience,  making  them  so  cumbrous  that 
no  human  being  could  ever  apply  them  to  practical  life 
or  ever  even  read  them  through  ;  or  that  of  the  Moham- 
medan Koran,  which  makes  the  essentials  of  religion 
to  consist  in  just  so  many  prayers,  so  much  fasting,  so 
much  almsgiving,  so  much  journeying  to  Mecca,  and 
presents  all  manner  of  external  duties  in  private  and 
political  life,  like  another  Jewish  collection  of  outward 
commandments  and  ordinances.  No  one  indeed  can 
compare  the  teaching  of  the  New  Testament  with  any 
other  system  the  world  has  produced  without  being 
struck  with  the  vast  superiority  of  it  as  laying  its  chief 
stress  upon  the  inward  and  spiritual.  And  within  this 
sphere,  which  it  has  wisely  taken  as  its  proper  province, 
we  maintain  that  it  is  complete. 

The  main  attacks  upon  the  Christian  morality  have 
been  characterized  by  real  ignorance  of  the  system  as- 
sailed. It  has  been  declared,  for  example,  that  Chris- 
tianity says  little  or  nothing  of  man's  duty  to  the  State, 
rather  merging  his  social  and  political  in  his  individual 
and  personal  relations.  Nothing  could  be  more  untrue. 
"  Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Csesar's  and 
unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's.  Let  every  soul  be 
subject  unto  the  higher  powers ;  for  there  Is  no  power 
but  of  God,  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God." 
"  Render  therefore  unto  all  their  dues — tribute  to 
whom  tribute  is  due ;  custom  to  whom  custom ;  fear  to 


212  MISCELLANIES 

whom  fear;  honor  to  whom  honor."  These  precepts 
recognize  most  solemnly  man's  duties  to  civil  govern- 
ment, and  we  all  know  how  upon  the  strength  of  these 
very  precepts  unlimited  sacrifices  for  the  maintenance 
of  our  national  unity  were  urged  and  secured  during 
our  last  great  war. 

It  has  been  said  that  "  whatever  exists  of  mag- 
nanimity, high-mindedness,  personal  dignity,  even  the 
sense  of  honor,  is  derived  from  the  purely  human, 
not  from  the  religious,  part  of  our  education  and 
never  could  have  grown  out  of  a  standard  of  ethics 
in  which  the  only  v^orth  professedly  recognized  is 
that  of  obedience."  To  such  a  charge  as  this  we  only 
need  oppose  the  words  of  our  text.  They  show  that 
every  one  of  these  virtues  is  recognized  and  enforced 
by  Christianity.  Paul  enjoins  upon  us  "  whatsoever 
things  are  true  " :  all  truth,  whether  with  regard  to  so- 
called  secular  or  sacred  things ;  all  truth,  intellectual  or 
moral,  the  wisdom  of  the  schools,  or  the  teachings  of 
nature,  or  the  results  of  these  in  a  symmetrical  and 
well-ordered  character — all  this  is  to  be  the  aim  and 
gradual  achievement  of  the  Christian.  "  Whatsoever 
things  are  honest,"  or  honorable :  here  that  fine  sense 
of  honor,  the  possession  of  which  has  sometimes  been 
deemed  foreign  to  Christianity,  is  directly  enjoined 
upon  us.  The  very  word  brings  before  us  the  image 
of  an  honor  sensitive  and  stainless,  scorning  the  wrong 
and  the  mean,  and  rejoicing  in  all  that  is  truly  high- 
toned  and  noble.  "  Whatsoever  things  are  just  "  : 
justice  or  righteousness,  devoid  of  all  considerations  of 
personal  prejudice  or  interest,  that  swears  to  one's  own 
heart  and  changes  not,  that  looks  beyond  men's  circum- 


Christ's  moral  system  213 

stances  and  surroundings  to  their  characters  and  to 
their  souls,  that  does  justice  though  the  heavens  fall, 
and  not  only  does  righteousness,  but  loves  righteous- 
ness with  an  inward  attachment  and  ardor.  "  What- 
soever things  are  pure  " :  the  freedom  from  all  sensual 
and  base  desires,  the  clear  eye  fixed  on  the  unsullied 
glories  of  holiness,  the  motives  of  the  heart  devoid  of 
all  that  is  degrading  and  selfish.  "  Whatsoever  things 
are  lovely,"  or  amiable :  all  the  graces  that  make  up  the 
true  gentleman  or  gentlewoman.  "  Whatsoever  things 
are  of  good  report,"  or  winning  and  attractive,  rather : 
no  asceticism  nor  sternness  here,  but  the  "  pleasing  of 
others  for  their  good  to  edification,"  and  for  that  end 
the  cultivation  of  all  beautiful  traits  and  accomplish- 
ments, not  only  in  character,  but  in  outward  dress  and 
manner.  "If  there  be  any  virtue  " :  here  that  grand 
martial  word  of  the  old  Greeks  is  brought  in  to  de- 
scribe the  Christian's  spirit ;  the  valorous  courage,  the 
manly  independence,  the  persistent  energy  which  had 
given  the  soldiers  of  Alexander  their  victories  on  so 
many  well-fought  fields  are  to  be  reproduced  in  our 
spiritual  warfare  as  soldiers  of  Christ,  "  If  there  be 
any  praise  " :  the  Christian  is  not  to  hold  himself  im- 
passive and  thoughtless  of  the  opinions  of  those  around 
him.  A  certain  consideration  may  justly  be  given  to 
the  praise  of  men.  Even  the  love  of  human  approba- 
tion, which  constitutes  among  worldly  men  so  strong  an 
incentive  to  excellence,  is  not  to  be  despised  among  the 
helps  and  graces  of  the  Christian.  Of  all  these  things 
the  apostle  bids  us  "  think."  Can  any  description  of 
beautiful  character  penned  by  heathen  philosopher  vie 
with  this  ideal  for  comprehensiveness? 


214  MISCELLANIES 

I  think  the  most  careful  examination  will  only  lead 
us  to  adopt  more  and  more  unhesitatingly  the  conclu- 
sion of  a  late  writer  that  "  the  man  who  should  embody 
in  perfection  the  precepts  and  spirit  of  Christianity 
would  be  found  the  most  harmonious  and  complete 
development  of  which  humanity  is  capable.  He  could 
not  be  dishonest  who  '  provides  things  honest  in  the 
sight  of  all  men  ' ;  nor  selfish  who  '  looks  not  only  on 
his  own  things  but  also  on  the  things  of  others  ' ;  nor 
unjust  who  '  gives  to  every  one  the  things  that  are 
equal  ' ;  nor  rebellious  who  is  '  subject  to  the  powers 
that  be  and  are  ordained  of  God  ' ;  nor  meanly  submis- 
sive who  listening  to  the  voice  of  conscience  can  say : 
'  I  must  obey  God  rather  than  man  ' ;  nor  rude  who 
obeys  the  injunction  '  Be  courteous  ' ;  nor  immoral  who 
abstains  *  from  every  kind  of  evil  ' ;  nor  inhospitable 
who  is  '  not  forgetful  to  entertain  strangers ' ;  nor 
quarrelsome  who,  as  much  as  in  him  lies,  *  lives  peace- 
ably with  all  men  ' ;  nor  prejudiced  who  '  proves  all 
things,  and  holds  fast  that  which  is  good  ' ;  nor  slothful 
who  '  works  with  his  own  hands  the  thing  that  is 
good  ' ;  nor  relentless  or  revengeful  who  *  forgives  as 
God  in  Christ  has  forgiven  him  ' ;  nor  deceitful  who 
has  *  the  wisdom  without  hypocrisy  ' ;  nor  morose  who 
is  '  gentle  to  all  men  ' ;  nor  a  wilful  perpetrator  of  evil 
whose  life  is  inspired  by  that  gospel  which  teaches  that 
'  denying  ungodliness  and  every  worldly  lust,  we  must 
live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly  in  the  present 
world.'  " 

I  have  spoken  of  the  freedom  of  Christian  morality 
from  all  error,  and  at  the  same  time  its  exceeding  com- 
prehensiveness.    I  should  like  to  speak  of  two  other 


CHRIST  S    MORAL    SYSTEM  21  5 

elements  of  its  power.  On  the  one  hand,  the  organic 
unity  of  its  precepts,  the  organizing  of  them  all  around 
the  great  central  thought  of  love  to  God  and  man,  so 
that  instead  of  a  scheme  of  philosophical  ethics, 
abstruse  and  complicated,  there  is  a  simplicity  about 
them  which  renders  them  intelligible  to  a  child.  It  is  an 
infinite  gain  in  our  effort  to  learn  our  duties,  when  the 
many  become  one,  and  we  grasp  a  single  principle 
which  once  carried  out  will  carry  all  subordinate  duties 
with  it.  And  no  other  system  of  morals  can  compare 
with  that  of  Christianity  in  this  reducing  of  all  duties 
to  one  by  declaring  "  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law." 
On  the  other  hand,  Christian  morality  is  lifted  far  up 
above  other  systems  by  its  proper  conception  of  the  re- 
lation between  itself  and  religion. 

There  have  been  systems  of  morality  that  made 
nothing  of  religion,  duty  to  man  was  everything,  duty 
to  God  was  utterly  unrecognized.  There  have  been 
systems  of  religion  that  made  nothing  of  morality 
— certain  rights  or  forms  have  been  supposed  to 
secure  God's  favor,  whatever  vice  or  crime  might 
stain  the  heart  and  life.  But  Christian  morality  makes 
our  duties  to  God  and  our  duties  to  man  to  be  parts 
of  one  great  system.  We  cannot  truly  Jove  God 
without  loving  our  brother  also,  and  we  cannot  love 
our  brother  without  having  in  us  the  love  of  God. 
In  other  words  religion  and  morality  are  inseparable, 
two  hemispheres,  both  of  which  are  necessary  to 
form  a  completed  whole.  But  these  characteristics  of 
Christian  morals  which  present  so  many  marked  con- 
trasts to  the  morals  of  human  systems  we  must  pass  by 
with  this  simple  glance,  in  order  to  look  last  of  all  at  a 


2l6  MISCELLANIES 

final  excellence  of  the  morality  of  the  Scriptures, 
namely,  that  it  does  not  leave  us  with  the  bare  publica- 
tion of  law,  but  points  us  to  the  means  provided  for  the 
fulfilment  of  the  law  it  has  itself  laid  down.  It  is  com- 
paratively easy  to  tell  men  their  duties ;  how  to  secure 
the  performance  of  those  duties  is  quite  another  matter. 
Now  here  the  Scripture  morality  shows  what  no  other 
system  of  morals  ever  did:  an  actual  human  life  in 
which  its  precepts  have  been  realized,  the  law  drawn  out 
in  living  characters,  in  the  character  and  example  of 
Jesus.  Confucius  and  Plato  and  Epictetus  could  preach 
ethics ;  but,  alas,  how  far  short  of  Jesus  did  they  come 
in  following  their  own  precepts !  And  what  men  need 
more  than  law  is  the  evidence  that  law  can  be  obeyed. 
Example  speaks  louder  than  precept,  and  the  example 
of  Him  who,  though  he  was  rich,  yet  became  poor,  that 
we  through  his  poverty  might  be  made  rich,  has  done 
more  for  the  moral  progress  of  the  race  than  all  the 
maxims  of  all  the  sages. 

Then  too,  Christian  morality  furnishes  motives  to 
right  living.  Christ's  precepts  are  accompanied  with 
revelations  of  the  presence  and  care  and  love  of  God, 
which  impel  us  to  obedience.  The  philosophers  with 
their  distant  and  unloving  God,  if  they  had  any  God  at 
all,  could  never  make  men  virtuous,  because  they  had 
no  motive  to  set  against  the  tremendous  force  of  man's 
wayward  passions.  But  Christ,  revealing  the  infinite 
compassion  and  forgiving  grace  of  the  Godhead,  in- 
terpreting God  to  us  in  the  Cross,  uttering  to  us  God's 
own  words  of  cheer  and  promise,  brings  the  most  pow- 
erful of  all  motives  in  the  universe  to  bear  upon  us. 
We  feel  that  we  must  love  God,  because  he  has  first 


CHRIST  S    MORAL    SYSTEM  21"/ 

loved  US.  Or,  if  even  this  example  and  this  motive  are 
not  enough,  Christ's  plan  goes  further  still — it  con- 
templates such  an  inworking  of  his  own  Spirit  into 
our  souls  that  we  shall  be  made  to  love,  and  the  per- 
formance of  duty  shall  be  a  delight. 

The  personal  union  and  communion  of  our  souls 
with  the  living  Jesus ;  this  can  transform  us  and  make 
us  new  creatures,  so  that  the  righteousness  of  the 
law  is  fulfilled  in  us,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh 
but  after  the  Spirit.  Here  is  the  glory  of  Christ's 
moral  system,  that  it  is  not  simply  a  blank  enuncia- 
tioiTof  duty,  with  the  threat  "  do  or  die  "  attached 
to  it,  but  that  it  connects  itself  with  a  glorious  plan 
for  the  renovation  of  humanity  and  the  creation  with- 
in us  of  the  true  spirit  of  obedience.  And  without 
securing  this  last,  what  can  you  accomplish  by  mere 
law  ?  Make  your  child  obey  you  from  mere  fear  and 
what  have  you  done  for  him?  He  will  disgrace  your 
name  so  soon  as  he  is  out  of  your  control.  You 
have  done  nothing  for  him  until  the  principle  of  obe- 
dience has  taken  root  in  him,  and  the  doing  of  right 
has  become  a  rational  and  voluntary  matter  with  him. 
You  have  seen  a  clock  that  had  run  down.  Set  the 
pendulum  vibrating  and  the  clock  will  tick  for  a  little 
while  and  seem  to  run.  But  how  quickly  it  stops ! 
What  is  the  matter?  Why,  it  needs  something  more 
radical  done  with  it,  something  that  will  reach  its  in- 
ternal mechanism  and  set  the  springs  of  action  to  work. 
Wind  it  up,  and  it  will  go  hour  after  hour.  So  mere 
law  can  set  men  acting  in  a  moral  fashion  a  little  while, 
like  the  pendulum,  and  it  may  seem  to  be  real  moral 
life;  but  how  quickly  all  this  action  ceases  if  the  aflfec- 


2l8  MISCELLANIES 

tions,  the  springs  of  life,  are  not  changed  by  divine 
grace,  if  Christ  does  not  wind  up  the  clock  by  bringing 
his  own  life  and  spirit  inwardly  to  bear  upon  it.  And 
this  no  other  system  ever  did  but  the  gospel  of  Christ. 
This,  and  this  only,  is  able  to  make  us  wise  unto  salva- 
tion. For  "  what  the  law  could  not  do,"  whether  ut- 
tered by  heathen  or  Jewish  teachers,  that  "  God  did," 
by  "  sending  his  own  Son  "  to  redeem  our  nature,  and 
his  own  Spirit  to  unite  us  to  this  redeemed  human 
nature  in  him. 

See  then,  my  friends,  the  glorious  ideal  of  character 
set  before  us — whatsoever  things  are  true,  honorable, 
righteous,  pure,  amiable,  winning,  manly,  worthy  of 
praise — to  be  like  Christ,  to  be  like  God.  A  Christian 
man,  whom  I  know,  once  started  up  from  contemplation 
and  said  solemnly,  and  with  intense  feeling,  "  Oh,  that 
I  might  be  like  God!  "  A  sublime  aim!  But  not  too 
sublime ;  it  is  the  very  end  proposed  to  us  by  God  him- 
self. Are  you  yet  unreconciled  to  God?  Well,  sinners 
as  you  are,  God  has  made  it  possible  for  you  to  be 
restored  from  your  alienation  and  transgression  and 
to  be  like  him :  *'  Be  ye  therefore  imitators  of  God, 
as  beloved  children."  Are  you  children  of  God?  Then 
show,  in  your  moral  character,  a  family  resemblance 
to  him  who  gave  you  life.  If  we  come  short  of  this, 
it  surely  is  not  because  the  model  has  not  been  set  be- 
fore us,  nor  because  there  is  no  help  accessible  to  make 
us  what  we  ought  to  be.  Let  this  be  a  time  of  new  con- 
secration to  this  high  end  of  our  existence.  Nothing 
else  is  enduring  but  a  character  formed  after  the  divine 
plans  and  fitted  for  dwelling  and  communing  with  the 
great  God  who  made  us. 


XXXIV 
PRESENT  VALUES 


This  is  the  day  which  Jehovah  hath  made;  we  will  rejoice 
and  be  glad  in  it.     (Ps.  118:24.) 

Did  Jesus  ever  sing?  Yes,  and  here  we  have  the 
hymn.  This  One  Hundred  and  Eighteenth  Psahn  is  a 
part  of  the  great  Hallel,  or  song  of  triumph  and  thanks- 
giving, which  the  later  Jews  sang  at  their  annual  fes- 
tivals, especially  at  the  Passover.  This  custom  is 
thought  to  have  existed  even  in  the  time  of  Christ.  If 
so,  the  words  of  the  text  were  uttered  by  our  Lord 
and  by  his  disciples  in  the  upper  chamber  just  before 
his  suffering.  "  When  they  had  sung  an  hymn,  they 
went  out  into  the  mount  of  Olives."  Jesus  fortified 
himself  by  the  voice  and  the  melody  and  the  com- 
panionship of  sacred  song,  just  before  the  prince  of 
this  world  came  with  his  sorest  temptation.  It  is 
said  by  some  that  the  singing  of  the  Passover  hymn 
was  not  confined  to  the  houses  where  the  sacrificial 
lamb  was  eaten,  but  that,  after  the  family  groups  had 
broken  up,  detached  parties  still  kept  up  the  song  as 
they  walked  through  the  darkness  of  the  streets,  and 
so  the  whole  night  was  made  vocal  with  the  words  of 
praise :  "  Oh,  give  thanks  unto  Jehovah ;  for  he  is 
good;  for  his  loving-kindness  endureth  forever." 

'  A  sermon  preached  at  the  ordination  of  C.  A.  McAlpine,  in  the  Bronson 
Avenue   Church,   Rochester,   N.    Y.,  June   lo,    1904. 

219 


220  MISCELLANIES 

For  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him  Jesus  endured 
the  cross.  It  is  interesting  to  read  this  One  Hundred 
and  Eighteenth  Psahn,  and  to  think  how  its  several 
utterances  must  have  encouraged  and  comforted  his 
soul  at  the  time  when  the  darkness  of  the  skies  was 
but  a  faint  symbol  of  the  approaching  darkness  of 
God's  forsaking.  *'  Bind  the  sacrifice  with  cords,  even 
unto  the  horns  of  the  altar,"  the  die  is  cast  and  there 
is  no  retreat ;  it  must  needs  be  that  Christ  should  suffer. 
"All  nations  compassed  me  about," — the  Greek  and 
Latin  and  Hebrew  inscription  over  the  cross  was  the 
sign  that  the  whole  earth  had  conspired  to  reject  and 
murder  its  Lord.  "  Thou  didst  thrust  sore  at  me  that 
I  might  fall,  but  Jehovah  helped  me.  Jehovah  is  my 
strength  and  song,  and  he  is  become  my  salvation." 
"  I  shall  not  die,  but  live,  and  declare  the  works  of 
Jehovah."  "  The  stone  which  the  builders  rejected  is 
become  the  head  of  the  corner.  This  is  Jehovah's 
doing;  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes.  This  is  the  day 
which  Jehovah  hath  made ;  we  will  rejoice  and  be  glad 
in  it." 

I  suppose  that  the  day  originally  alluded  to  in  the 
psalm  was  the  day  when  Israel  passed  through  the 
waters  of  the  Red  Sea  and  came  out  an  emancipated 
nation.  But  many  successive  generations  of  Israelites 
made  the  psalm  their  own  and  counted  their  day  also 
the  day  which  Jehovah  had  made.  And  if  Jesus  him- 
self could  regard  the  day  of  his  crucifixion  as  the 
day  of  his  lifting  up  and  exaltation,  and  so  as  the  day 
which  the  Lord  had  made,  we  too  have  a  right  to  call 
our  day  the  day  which  Jehovah  has  made,  and  can 
rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it,     I  take  this  text  therefore 


PRESENT    VALUES  221 

as  the  foundation  of  a  sermon  on  Present  Values. 
or  The  Value  of  the  Present  Day.  We  are  so 
apt  to  relegate  our  good  things  to  the  future,  that  it 
will  be  well  to  think  of  the  things  that  are  ours  here 
and  now.  I  invite  you  to  consider  the  subject  as  re- 
lated, first,  to  the  attributes  of  God;  secondly,  to 
God's  methods  of  evolution;  thirdly,  to  the  promises 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  and,  fourthly,  to  the 
nature  of  Christian  faith.  All  these  throw  light  upon 
our  theme. 

First,  then,  consider  what  the  attributes  of  God 
imply  with  regard  to  the  value  of  the  present  day. 
We  believe  that  God  is  omnipresent.  But  omnipres- 
ence is  not  the  presence  of  a  part  of  God  in  every 
place.  God  is  not  a  material  atmosphere,  a  part  of 
which  may  be  here  and  another  part  there.  God  is 
spirit,  and  spirit  transcends  all  such  limitations.  Spirit 
is  not-  confined  to  space.  To  arrive  here,  God  does 
not  need  to  depart  there.  To  manifest  himself  in 
Christ  he  does  not  need  to  leave  his  throne  in  heaven. 
If  only  a  part  of  God  were  here,  it  would  not  be  the 
perfect  God  with  whoili  we  communed  in  prayer.  Dif- 
ficult as  it  seems  at  first,  we  must  maintain  that  God's 
omnipresence  is  the  presence  of  the  whole  of  God  in 
every  place.  God  in  all  his  attributes  and  powers  is 
with  me  here  and  now.  In  like  manner,  omniscience 
is  not  a  dividing  up  of  God's  attention,  so  that  each 
particular  thing  has  a  share  in  his  knowledge.  Omnis- 
cience is  rather  the  concentration  of  the  whole  mind 
of  God  upon  each  particular  thing.  He  does  not  need 
to  withdraw  his  attention  from  others  in  order  to  per- 
ceive me.     I  am  at  this  very  moment  the  object  of  a 


2.22  MISCELLANIES 

scrutiny  which  nothing  escapes.  "  Thou,  God,  seest 
me,"  and  seest  me  as  perfectly  as  if  there  were  no 
other  in  the  universe  to  be  the  object  of  thine  atten- 
tion. Omnipotence  too  is  nothing  but  infinite  power 
ready  to  act  in  our  time  of  need — power  unexhausted 
by  previous  executions  or  by  manifestations  elsewhere, 
and  able  here  and  now  to  do  exceeding  abundantly, 
above  all  we  can  ask  or  think. 

Our  undervaluing  of  the  present  day  is  the  result  of 
our  unbelief  in  God.  We  disbelieve  in  God's  omni- 
presence, and  so  we  postpone  to  the  future  our  com- 
munion with  him.  We  disbelieve  in  his  omniscience, 
and  so  we  postpone  to  the  future  our  repentance  of 
sin  and  our  surrender  to  his  service.  We  disbelieve 
in  his  omnipotence,  and  so  we  postpone  to  the  future 
the  reception  of  his  gifts  and  the  answer  to  our 
prayers.  Alas,  we  are  too  often  practical  atheists! 
While  we  profess  to  believe  in  the  living  God,  it  is 
rather  in  a  dead  God,  or  a  God  far  away,  that  we  be- 
lieve. We  limit  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  as  that  serv- 
ant of  Elisha  did.  Would  that  our  eyes  might  be 
opened  as  were  the  eyes  of  that  young  man,  so  that 
we  might  see  the  mountain  full  of  horses  and  chariots 
of  fire,  the  symbols  of  God's  perpetual  presence  and 
power  with  his  people!  If  God  be  with  us,  who  can 
be  against  us?  Our  God  is  the  God  of  holiness,  whose 
one  aim  is  to  set  up  the  kingdom  of  truth  and  right- 
eousness in  the  earth.  And  he  is  the  God  of  love, 
who  makes  the  humblest  his  instruments,  and  takes 
penitent  sinners  to  be  his  witnesses.  He  can  use  you 
and  me,  unfaithful  as  we  have  been,  even  as  he  used 
the  denying  Peter  to  be  his  mouthpiece  at  Pentecost. 


PRESENT    VALUES  223 

and  used  the  persecuting  Saul  to  be  the  apostle  to  the 
Gentiles.  How  quickly  Peter's  winning  of  the  three 
thousand  followed  his  blasphemous  denial  on  the  night 
of  Christ's  betrayal,  and  how  quickly  Paul's  witness- 
ing at  Damascus  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ  followed 
his  holding  the  clothes  of  those  who  stoned  Stephen, 
and  his  haling  of  men  and  women  before  the  Jewish 
tribunals  that  they  might  be  put  to  death!  God  re- 
quires no  long  time  to  execute  his  purposes  and  to 
answer  his  people's  prayers.  One  day  is  as  good  with 
him  as  a  thousand  years,  and  he  can  cut  short  his  work 
in  righteousness.  Therefore  we  say:  "This  is  the 
day  that  the  Lord  has  made;  we  will  rejoice  and  be 
glad  in  it." 

But,  secondly,  the  value  of  the  present  day  can  be 
understood  by  considering  God's  method  of  evolu- 
tion. By  evolution  we  mean  simply  God's  way  of 
gradual  unfolding,  his  processes  of  growth,  his  build- 
ing upon  the  past,  his  making  that  which  now  is  the 
seed  and  type  of  that  which  is  to  come.  We  have 
lost  all  our  fear  of  evolution,  since  we  discovered  that 
it  is  simply  the  method  of  God,  only  the  glove  which 
can  do  nothing  apart  from  the  hand  within  the  glove, 
only  the  sword  which  can  do  nothing  apart  from  the 
hand  that  wields  the  sword.  We  are  willing  to  recog- 
nize evolution  in  Hebrew  history  from  Abraham  to 
Christ,  and  evolution  in  the  Scriptures  from  Genesis 
to  Revelation,  since  evolution  is  nothing  but  the  pro- 
gressive leading  of  God's  providence  and  the  progress- 
ive teaching  of  God's  Spirit.  We  see  that  there  have 
been  no  real  setbacks  in  God's  working.  His  plan  has 
never  been  frustrated.     Even  the  wrath  of  man  has 


224  MISCELLANIES 

been  made  to  praise  him,  and  with  the  remainder  of 
wrath  he  has  girded  himself,  as  with  a  sword,  for 
future  conquest.  Satan  doubtless  imagined  that  he 
had  outwitted  God  when  he  nailed  the  Saviour  to  the 
cross;  but  that  very  cross  was  made  the  means  of  vic- 
tory, when  Jesus  by  faith  and  sacrifice  stripped  off 
from  himself  the  principalities  and  powers  of  evil  that 
swarmed  around  him  in  their  last  desperate  onset,  and 
made  a  show  of  them  openly,  triumphing  over  them 
on  that  very  cross  which  they  had  hoped  would  be  the 
means  of  his  overthrow. 

If  Christ  could  sing:  "This  is  the  day  which  Jeho- 
vah hath  made;  we  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it,"  then 
no  day  of  darkness  should  lead  us  to  despond.  Each 
new  day  marks  an  advance  in  the  fulfilment  of  the 
divine  plans.  I  am  bound  to  believe  that  the  present 
day  is  the  most  important  that  has  ever  yet  dawned  in 
the  history  of  the  world.  The  forces  of  good  are 
stronger  than  they  ever  were  before;  and,  if  the  forces 
of  evil  are  also  stronger,  this  is  only  a  testimony  to  the 
strength  of  good  which  calls  out  a  continually  increas- 
ing opposition.  So,  in  John's  Gospel,  evil  and  good 
grow  side  by  side,  like  the  tares  and  the  wheat,  but 
only  that  the  good  may  show  its  ultimate  power  to 
hold  its  own  and  win  the  day.  We  can  be  genuine  op- 
timists in  spite  of  the  existence  and  growth  of  evil, 
when  we  remember  that  in  God's  plan  of  evolution 
there  is  a  survival  of  the  fittest.  That  which  is  mor- 
ally best  shall  crowd  out  or  convert  all  that  is  morally 
inferior  to  itself.  God  has  his  purpose  in  permitting 
the  evil  to  survive,  and  a  part  of  his  purpose  doubtless 
is  to  stimulate  sympathy  and  effort  in  those  who  are 


PRESENT    VALUES  225 

good.  In  spite  of  vices  and  heresies  and  hatreds  and 
wars,  "  God's  in  his  heaven;  all's  right  with  the  world." 
We  are  nearer  the  consummation,  both  in  the  church 
and  in  the  world,  than  ever  before,  and  so  we  can 
sing :  "  This  is  the  day  which  Jehovah  hath  made ;  we 
will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it." 

In  the  third  place,  the  promises  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  should  make  us  value  the  present  day.  Let  us 
remember  that  he  has  promised  to  be  with  us  all  the 
days,  even  to  the  end  of  the  present  system  of  things. 
The  omnipresence  of  God  might  seem  an  abstract  and 
colorless  thing,  but  it  is  not  so  with  the  omnipresence 
of  our  Lord  Jesus.  He  told  his  disciples  that  his  pres- 
ence should  assure  to  them  an  understanding  of  cir- 
cumstances such  as,  apart  from  him,  would  have  been 
impossible.  "  I  have  not  called  you  servants,  but 
friends;  for  the  servant  knoweth  not  what  his  Lord 
doeth."  The  implication  is  that  the  friend  of  Christ 
will  be  able  to  enter  into  his  plans,  and  to  deal  intelli- 
gently with  each  situation,  as  it  arises.  "  Greater 
things  than  these  shall  ye  do  because  I  go  to  the 
Father."  Not  only  shall  a  certain  measure  of  Christ's 
omniscience  be  imparted  to  us,  but  also  a  certain  meas- 
ure of  his  omnipotence.  He  had  done  many  miracles, 
but  greater  things  should  his  disciples  work.  I  do 
not  think  he  refers  to  the  removing  of  physical  moun- 
tains or  of  physical  diseases.  I  do  believe  that  he 
means  the  cure  of  sin-sick  souls  and  the  removing  of 
the  mountainous  spiritual  obstacles  that  rise  between 
the  Christian  and  the  accomplishment  of  his  particular 
work  for  Christ.  He  himself  is  with  us  to  fulfil  his 
promises  and  to  show  himself  mighty  to  save, 
p 


226  MISCELLANIES 

The  words  of  Paul  may  be  regarded  as  the  pos- 
thumous words  of  Christ,  even  as  his  labors  were 
Christ's  posthumous  works.  And  there  is  nothing  that 
so  possessed  Paul's  mind  as  the  idea  of  the  infinite  ful- 
ness of  Christ.  "  In  him,"  he  says,  "  dwelleth  all  the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily."  This  means  that  the 
complete  aggregate  of  the  divine  attributes,  virtues,  and 
energies  has  its  permanent  abode  and  residence  in 
Jesus  Christ.  He  is  the  synthesis  of  all  the  powers 
in  and  by  which  God  manifests  himself,  whether  in 
nature  or  in  grace.  The  laws  of  nature  are  the  habits 
of  Christ.  "  The  voice  that  rolls  the  stars  along 
speaks  all  the  promises."  Paul  goes  on  to  say:  "And 
in  him  ye  are  made  full  " — Which  means  that  our 
emptiness  ceases  when  Christ  enters  into  our  souls. 
As  the  Apostle  John  expresses  it :  "  We  beheld  his 
glory,  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father, 
full  of  grace  and  truth,"  and  "  of  his  fulness  we  all 
received,  and  grace  for  grace  " — ever-renewed  and 
ever-increasing  measures  of  grace  to-day,  to  replace 
yesterday's  supply.  So,  to  use  again  Paul's  language, 
we  "  attain  unto  a  full-grown  man,  unto  the  measure 
of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ,"  are  "  filled 
with  all  the  fulness  of  God,"  and  the  church  becomes 
the  body  of  Christ,  "  the  fulness  of  him  that  filleth 
all  in  all."  Dear  friends,  in  the  light  of  these  exceed- 
ing great  and  precious  promises,  does  it  not  appear 
that  we  are  all  prodigals,  perishing  with  hunger  and 
trying  in  vain  to  satisfy  ourselves  with  husks,  while 
in  our  Father's  house  there  is  bread  enough  and  to 
spare?  Since  all  this  fulness  of  God  is  offered  us  in 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  we  may  find  him  here  and 


PRESENT   VALUES  227 

now.  should  we  not  sing :  "  This  is  the  day  which 
Jehovah  hath  made;  we  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in 
it"? 

Last  of  all,  consider  what  light  is  thrown  upon  the 
value  of  the  present  day  by  the  nature  of  Christian 
faith.  For  faith  is  nothing  but  our  voluntary  giving 
of  ourselves  to  Christ  and  our  voluntary  taking  of 
Christ  and  his  fulness  to  be  ours.  "Abide  in  me,  and 
I  in  you,"  says  our  Saviour.  We  abide  in  Christ  by  an 
entire  consecration ;  we  have  him  abiding  in  us,  by  an 
appropriating  faith.  The  action  of  the  will  is  requi- 
site both  in  giving  and  in  taking.  And  this  action  of 
the  will  can  be  put  forth  here  and  now.  There  is  no 
need  of  delay.  The  sinner  can  go  down  to  his  house 
justified ;  the  neglectful  Christian  may  return  to  his 
Saviour;  the  faithful  but  desponding  servant  of  Christ 
may  be  filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God.  Have  we 
been  bound  with  legalistic  fetters,  fancying  that  we 
must  work  out  our  own  salvation?  Why  not  remem- 
ber the  other  side  of  the  truth,  that  it  is  God  who 
works  in  us,  even  to  will  and  to  work  of  his  good 
pleasure,  and  that  our  very  desires  are  pledges  that  he 
is  with  U.S  here  and  now  to  save  ?  What  we  most  need 
is.  not  more  efifort  on  our  part,  but  more  willingness 
to  let  Christ  do  for  us.  Our  one  great  prayer  should 
be:  "  Lord,  increase  our  faith." 

For  faith  is  God's  measure  of  a  man.  Let  us  not 
think  of  ourselves  m.ore  highly  than  we  ought  to 
think,  judging  ourselves  by  our  natural  intelligence 
or  our  worldly  means  or  our  social  position,  but  let 
us  think  soberly,  according  as  God  has  dealt  to  each 
man  a  measure  of  faith.     In  God's  sight  it  matters 


228  MISCELLANIES 

little  how  much  intellect  or  wealth  or  influence  we 
may  possess.  He  is  able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up 
children  to  Abraham,  and  he  can  take  the  weak 
things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  mighty.  But 
God  does  value  faith,  because  faith  is  the  hand  that 
lays  hold  of  God,  the  heart  that  receives  God,  the 
medium  through  which  God  can  communicate  to  man 
his  wisdom,  his  love,  and  his  power.  Faith  is  a 
fact  of  life;  it  is  incapable  of  definition;  it  is  the 
merging  of  the  finite  in  the  infinite,  and  the  joining 
of  the  little  bay  along  the  shore  to  the  measureless 
pulses  of  the  sea.  Faith  can  do  wonders,  because  it 
joins  us  to  God.  The  faith  that  is  as  a  grain  of 
mustard-seed  can  remove  obstacles  like  mountains, 
because  it  falls  in  with  the  divine  purpose  and  fur- 
nishes a  channel  for  the  divine  power. 

However  weak  we  may  naturally  be,  and  however 
limited  our  sphere  may  seem,  there  is  offered  to  us  in 
faith  the  means  of  making  our  lives  sublime.  Out 
from  the  secrecy  of  many  a  humble  closet  of  prayer 
there  have  gone  forth  revival  influences  to  quicken 
the  church  of  God,  and  reforming  influences  to  revo- 
lutionize the  world.  The  power  that  subdued  pagan 
Rome  and  made  it  Christian  was  the  power  of 
prayer.  The  power  that  brought  the  papacy  to  the 
feet  of  Luther  and  opened  to  Protestantism  the  mod- 
ern world  was  the  power  of  prayer.  The  power  that 
is  now  moving  upon  the  nations,  and  sending  the 
gospel  into  the  lands  of  heathen  darkness,  is  the 
power  of  prayer.  And  its  power  is  not  exhausted ; 
it  is  only  beginning  its  triumphs;  and  all  because 
prayer  is  the  vehicle  and  fruit  of  faith,  the  faith  that 


PRESENT    VALUES  229 

realizes  that,  apart  from  Christ,  we  can  do  nothing, 
but  also  realizes  that  we  can  do  all  things  through 
Christ  who  strengthens  us. 

Not  so  very  long  ago  President  Roosevelt  touched 
a  gold  button  in  the  East  Room  of  the  White  House, 
at  Washington,  and  set  in  motion  all  the  machinery 
of  the  great  World's  Fair  at  St.  Louis.  How  came 
it  that  a  single  man  of  finite  powers  could  bridge 
that  great  interval  of  space,  and  could  accomplish 
results  which  a  thousand  giants  never  could  produce? 
Only  because  of  the  all-encompassing,  all-pervading 
forces  of  electricity  and  magnetism,  which  bind  to- 
gether not  only  St.  Louis  and  Washington,  but  all 
places  and  all  times.  The  God  in  whom  we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  being  connects  all  human  souls, 
as  well  as  all  material  things,  and,  weak  and  ignorant 
as  we  are,  the  least  of  us  is  endowed  with  authority, 
greater  than  that  of  President  Roosevelt,  by  faith 
and  prayer,  to  touch  the  springs  of  human  action  and 
to  inaugurate  movements  in  history,  compared  with 
which  the  starting  of  that  machinery  in  St.  Louis  was 
but  child's  play.  We  are  not  presidents,  but  we  are 
more  than  that — we  are  kings  and  priests  unto  God, 
seated  upon  the  throne  with  Christ,  instruments 
through  whom  Christ  works,  endowed  with  Christ's 
power.  In  view,  then,  of  all  that  faith  may  accom- 
plish, let  us  sing :  "  This  is  the  day  which  Jehovah 
hath  made;  we  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it." 

I  invited  you  at  the  beginning  to  think  of  Present 
Values,  or  the  Value  of  the  Present  Day.  I  have 
tried  to  show  you,  first,  that  God's  attributes  of  om- 
nipresence, omniscience,  and  omnipotence,  his  infinite 


230  MISCELLANIES 

holiness  and  his  changeless  love,  make  this  day  a 
day  of  his  working  equally  with  any  day  in  all  the 
past ;  secondly,  that  God's  method  of  evolution 
makes  it  demonstrable  that  this  is  the  best  day  of 
all  thus  far  in  human  history;  thirdly,  that  the  prom- 
ises of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whether  uttered  by 
himself  in  the  flesh  or  after  his  resurrection  by 
the  apostles,  assure  us  that  all  the  fulness  of  God  is 
in  him  for  our  present  need,  to  make  this  day  the 
mightiest  day  of  his  working;  and,  fourthly,  that 
the  faith  which  links  us  to  him  actually  connects  us 
with  Him  who  is  the  source  of  wisdom  and  power, 
and  makes  us  equal  to  every  work  to  which  he  calls 
us  to  set  our  hands.  With  all  this  opening  to  us  of  the 
infinite  treasure  of  God's  grace  and  love,  why  should 
we  longer  remain  in  the  darkness  and  impotence  of 
our  past  unbelief? 

We  may  receive  to-day  more  than  we  have  ever 
in  our  lives  received  before.  Every  humblest  cor- 
ner in  our  homes,  if  made  the  scene  of  prevail- 
ing prayer,  may  send  out  influences  that  shall  sub- 
due hard  hearts  and  bring  the  world  to  the  feet 
of  Christ.  Every  little  occasion  that  is  offered  us 
to  speak  a  word  of  simple  confession  of  Christ's 
name  may  be  made  great,  because  Christ  himself 
makes  it  his  message,  and  no  word  of  his  is  devoid 
of  power.  No  one  of  us  knows  the  extent  of  his 
influence.  We  do  our  little  work,  and  we  seem  to 
accomplish  nothing.  But  our  influence  is  like  the 
balls  of  snow  which  the  boys  roll  up  in  the  early 
spring.  The  mass  grows  as  it  rolls.  After  it  leaves 
our  hands,   the   Master  keeps   it  rolling  on.     In  the 


PRESENT    VALUES  23 I 

Judgment,  while  the  wicked  say :  "  When  saw  we 
thee  an  htingred  and  gave  thee  no  meat?"  the 
righteous  ask :  "  When  saw  we  thee  an  hungred  and 
fed  thee?  "  They  cannot  see  that  they  did  any  good. 
But  Christ  repHes :  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  one 
of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  did  it  unto 
me."  And  the  faithful  servant  shall  be  amazed  at 
the  great  harvest  which  his  little  seed-sowing  has 
produced  under  the  tillage  of  the  great  Husbandman. 
"Fear  not,"  then,  "thou  worm,  Jacob;  thou  shalt 
thresh  mountains." 

With  the  present  God,  the  present  Christ,  the  pres- 
ent Holy  Spirit,  the  present  salvation,  the  present 
opportunity,  the  present  power  to  improve  it, 
why  should  we  wait  for  times  of  revival?  Let 
us  now  awake,  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and 
Christ  shall  give  us  light.  This,  indeed,  is  the 
first  resurrection,  the  resurrection  of  faith  and 
love,  the  bringing  in  the  tithes  into  the  storehouse 
that  shall  insure  the  opening  of  the  windows  of 
heaven,  so  that  a  blessing  shall  descend  like  the  flood 
of  Noah,  not  to  destroy,  but  to  recreate  the  sinful 
earth.  Why  wait  for  the  millennium,  when  we  may 
have  the  spiritual  second  coming  of  Christ  here  and 
now  in  our  hearts?  It  will  be  vain  for  us  to  wait 
for  the  outward  resurrection  or  the  visible  second 
coming,  unless  the  inward  and  invisible  reception  of 
Christ  has  gone  before.  Why  wait  for  heaven,  when 
heaven  begins  on  earth?  This  is  eternal  life  that 
we  may  know  thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus 
Christ  whom  he  hath  sent,  and  he  that  believeth 
on  the  Son  already  hath  eternal  life.     A  present  God, 


22,2  MISCELLANIES 

and  a  present  salvation,  and  a  present  heaven  of  joy 
and  peace  and  power  in  Ciirist  our  Saviour,  enable 
us  to  join  with  him,  even  before  our  death,  yes,  even 
here  and  now,  in  singing,  as  he  sang  before  he  suf- 
fered :  "  This  is  the  day  that  Jehovah  hath  made ;  we 
will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it." 


XXXV 

LITTLE  THINGS ' 

He  that  is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least  is  faithful  also  in  much ; 
and  he  that  is  unjust  in  the  least  is  unjust  also  in  much.  (Luke 
i6: 10.) 

Little  things — their  influence  in  matters  of  reHgion, 
this  is  the  theme  suggested  by  the  text.  I  suppose 
we  should  all  agree  that  little  things  are  the  best 
signs  of  character.  Straws  thrown  into  the  air  show 
which  way  the  wind  blows  much  better  than  the 
throwing  up  of  bullets  or  cannon-balls.  In  great 
things  we  have  more  thought  of  others,  we  are  moved 
more  by  surrounding  influences.  In  little  things 
there  is  not  the  same  possibility  of  concealment ;  we 
must  sometimes  forget,  and  then  we  act  ourselves. 
You  cannot  form  half  so  safe  a  judgment  of  a  young 
man's  goodness  of  heart  from  his  politeness  in  com- 
pany as  you  can  from  his  everyday  treatment  of  his 
mother  at  home.  Women's  opinions  of  women  are 
generally  more  correct  than  men's,  because  they  see 
their  sisters  when  less  under  the  influence  of  conven- 
tional proprieties,  and  so  are  better  able  to  mark  those 
little  things  of  conduct  which  most  fully  manifest  the 
inner  disposition.  It  is  not  so  much  by  a  man's  words 
in  the  prayer  meeting  as  by  the  tenor  of  his  common 

1  A  sermon  preached  in  the   First  Presbyterian  Church,  Rochester,  N.   Y., 
May   26,    1889. 

^33 


234  MISCELLANIES 

talk  that  the  world  judges  him.  God  recognizes  and 
follows  the  same  rule,  when  he  declares  that  "  every 
idle  word  shall  be  brought  into  the  judgment."  It 
shall  be  brought  into  the  judgment  because  it  will 
afford  the  best  index  of  the  heart. 

It  is  a  generally  acknowledged  fact  that  as  a  man 
does  in  little  things,  so  he  will  do  in  great.  This  is 
an  unconscious  inference  from  the  other  fact  just 
mentioned,  that  in  little  things  the  prevailing  disjx)- 
sition  is  most  apt  to  manifest  itself.  In  general  and 
in  the  long  run  men  follow  their  prevailing  disposi- 
tions. If  you  were  going  to  select  a  missionary  for 
some  hard  foreign  field  you  would  not  take  the  youth 
of  romantic  dreams,  whose  mind  had  reveled  in 
visions  of  some  vast  work  of  Christian  conquest. 
You  would  greatly  prefer  some  one  who  had  proved 
the  reality  of  his  faith  and  zeal,  by  calm  and  straight- 
forward work  for  Christ  and  the  church  in  the  hum- 
ble sphere  God  had  already  assigned  him. 

Every  merchant  chooses  his  confidential  clerk  or 
his  junior  partner  on  some  such  principle.  He  never 
takes  an  unreliable,  unpunctual,  inattentive  employee 
as  his  chief  assistant,  with  the  idea  that  the  new  posi- 
tion may  change  these  habits  of  his.  He  rightly 
argues  that  faithfulness  in  a  subordinate  place  is  the 
only  surety  for  faithfulness  in  a  higher  one.  The  char- 
acter that  has  shown  its  weakness  and  inefficiency  in 
the  humbler  sphere  will  not  change  in  a  day,  merely  be- 
cause its  surroundings  have  changed.  The  bookkeeper 
whose  cash  account  lacks  twenty-five  cents  of  balan- 
cing shows  himself  a  very  incompetent  and  untrust- 
worthy bookkeeper  when  he  charges  the  twenty-five 


LITTLE    THINGS  235 

cents  to  sundries,  instead  of  hunting  up  his  error.  It  is 
utterly  hopeless  to  think  of  making  that  boy  a  scholar 
who  is  perfectly  content  to  put  up  with  a  trifling  in- 
accuracy, when,  with  a  little  labor,  he  could  set  him- 
self right.  True  honesty  is  not  consistent  with  even 
slight  evasions  of  truth.  True  holiness  abhors  even 
the  appearance  of  sin.  "  True  faithfulness,"  in  the 
words  of  another,  "  has  its  ground  not  in  the  great- 
ness of  the  matter  in  which  it  is  displayed,  but  in  the 
conscientious  conviction  of  duty  in  him  who  exercises 
it.  He  that  lacks  it  in  the  less  will  not  show  it  in 
the  greater.  He  who  has  it  will  count  nothing  un- 
worthy of  his  attention,  whether  it  be  great  or  small." 

So  much  about  little  things  as  signs  of  character. 
It  is  by  these,  and  not  by  great  things,  that  we  mainly 
judge  of  others.  This  fact  should  of  itself  convince 
us  that  little  things  are  by  no  means  unimportant. 
But  I  wish  to  show  you  that  they  are  more  important 
still  because  of  their  influence  in  forming  character. 

Have  you  ever  seen  what  is  called  infusorial  earth? 
The  city  of  Richmond,  Va.,  is  built  upon  a  deposit 
of  such  earth,  many  feet  in  thickness.  Examine  that 
earth  with  a  magnifying-glass  and  you  find  it  com- 
posed of  the  silicious  shells  of  myriads  of  diatoms. 
The  countless  host  of  lower  organisms  that  swarmed 
in  the  ancient  waters  have  left  their  flinty  coverings 
as  a  stony  foundation  for  the  life  and  history  of  man. 
Creatures  of  infinitesimal  size,  they  were  yet,  in  the 
aggregate,  equal  to  the  work  of  building  up  a  -sub- 
stratum on  which  a  city  could  be  built.  One  by  one 
they  lived  and  died,  all  unconscious  of  the  use  they 
were  to  serve ;  but  men  profit  in  these  after  ages  by 


236  MISCELLANIES 

their  lives  and  stand  in  wonder  before  the  work  which 
they  accomphshed.  Every  httle  act  of  our  Hves  is 
hke  one  of  those  diatoms,  it  leaves  something  behind 
it — sometimes  a  deposit  of  good,  ofttimes  a  deposit 
of  evil.  And  just  as  a  microscopic  examination  of 
that  infusorial  earth  shows  to-day  the  precise  forms 
of  those  beautiful,  but  tiny,  creatures  that  lived  ages 
ago,  so  God's  eye,  if  not  man's  eye,  might  see  every 
good  man's  character  to  be  the  sum  and  product  of 
ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  definite  words  and 
thoughts  and  deeds,  which  separately  were  consid- 
ered insignificant.  Of  all  true  souls  it  may  be  said 
at  last :  "  They  builded  better  than  they  knew."  They 
had  no  notion  that  their  every  breath  was  to  stamp 
itself  into  character;  but  lo!  while  they  thought  them- 
selves building  for  time,  they  found  themselves  build- 
ing for  eternity. 

It  may  be  doubted,  indeed,  whether  the  great  emer- 
gencies of  life,  with  their  opportunities  for  grand 
emotions  and  grand  acts,  have  anything  like  the  in- 
fluence upon  us  that  is  exercised  by  the  small  ones. 
These  great  emergencies  come  but  seldom.  The  lives 
of  many  are  marked  by  none  of  them.  If  character 
is  formed  at  all,  it  must  be  by  accretions  almost  insen- 
sible. Who  would  ever  think  of  acquiring  good  man- 
ners by  some  sudden  leap?  You  cannot  change  the 
boor  into  the  gentleman  in  a  moment.  The  rough 
and  ugly  spirit  may  be  changed  in  a  moment  by  the 
grace  of  God,  but  facility  and  propriety  in  the  ex- 
pression of  that  spirit — that  is  something  gained 
slowly  and  only  by  constant  watchfulness  and  prac- 
tice.    It   is  not  great  things,   but   little   things,   con- 


LITTLE    THINGS  237 

stantly  accumulating,  that  make  the  poHshed  and  cul- 
tured man. 

How  shght  the  means  are  by  which  you  preserve 
hfe  and  health  from  day  to  day!  It  is  by  the  daily 
taking  of  food  and  exercise,  and  generally  in  small 
quantities,  that  vigor  and  strength  are  kept.  None 
of  us  eats  a  whole  ox  at  once.  None  of  us  can  take 
in  air  enough  at  one  time  to  last  us  for  a  whole  week. 
The  law  of  nature  is  the  frequent  taking  of  air  and 
food,  and  of  no  great  amount  at  once.  So  the  re- 
ligious life  is  dependent  upon  daily  and  hourly  recep- 
tion of  the  bread  of  life  into  our  souls.  A  little 
Scripture  every  day,  a  quarter  hour  regularly  devoted 
to  secret  prayer,  a  word  for  Christ  dropped  in  the 
ear  of  a  friend,  a  little  regular  work  done  for  God 
and  souls  in  the  Sabbath-school,  or  in  visitation  of 
the  poor — these  are  the  things  that  tell  on  character, 
that  confirm  faith  and  make  it  strong,  that  make  re- 
ligion and  life  identical.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
little  indulgences  oft  repeated  are  the  things  that  make 
religion  unreal  to  us,  fill  us  with  doubts  as  to  our 
acceptance  with  God,  lead  us  to  shirk  all  earnest  work 
for  Christ,  sap  the  very  life  of  our  Christianity. 

We  should  not  forget,  either,  that  little  things  often 
lead  to  greater.  God's  providence  generally  pre- 
pares us  for  great  sacrifices  and  great  labors  and 
great  triumphs  by  little  sacrifices  and  little  labors  and 
little  triumphs.  His  most  successful  servants  have 
been  commonly  educated  in  the  school  of  humble  and 
unnoticed  toil  and  trial.  Only  after  they  have  served 
an  apprenticeship  of  self-discipline  and  perseverance 
and  faith,  does  he  permit  them  to  see  the  obstacles 


238  MISCELLANIES 

to  their  work  disappear,  and  the  morning  of  victory 
dawn.  And  just  so,  httle  sins  are  the  preparation 
for  greater.  Little  neglects  make  ready  the  final 
denial  of  Him  who  bought  us.  The  way  to  the  abyss 
of  ruin  is  paved  by  transgressions  that  seemed  almost 
trivial.  All  sin  tends  to  multiply  itself.  The  heathen 
writer  said :  "  Whoever  yet  was  content  with  one  sin?  " 
And  when  Linnaeus,  the  botanist,  declared  that  three 
flesh  flies,  with  their  amazing  powers  of  self-multi- 
plication, would  devour  the  carcass  of  a  horse  as 
quickly  as  would  a  lion,  he  gave  a  symbol  of  a  ter- 
rible truth  in  the  moral  world.  He  who  admits  to 
his  bosom  one  darling  sin,  however  hidden  and  seem- 
ingly insignificant,  has  no  security  that  this  sin,  with 
its  progeny,  will  not  devour  him.  A  single  hole  in 
the  levee  of  the  Mississippi  will  let  the  waters  through, 
though  only  drop  by  drop  comes  through  at  first ; 
each  drop  will  wear  the  channel  larger,  till  the 
stream  becomes  a  rivulet,  then  a  river,  and  the  flood 
covers  and  devastates  the  whole  country  round.  But 
whether  fast  or  slow,  the  law  is  the  same.  Sin  grows 
by  what  it  feeds  on;  it  is  self -propagating — the  least 
sin  indulged  and  cherished  brings  ruin. 

If  religion  teaches  us  anything,  it  is  the  value  of 
trifles.  "  Gather  up  the  fragments  that  nothing  be 
lost  "  has  a  world  of  significance  in  it.  It  is  only  the 
old  law  of  political  economy  that  all  wealth  is  the 
result  of  saving.  It  is  not  what  we  spend,  but  what 
we  save,  that  makes  us  rich.  Every  great  fortune 
began  in  caring  for  the  little.  It  makes  no  difference 
how  small  it  was  at  first.  Economy  and  thrift  can 
make  it  in  the  end  a  million.     One  cent  put  at  com- 


LITTLE   THINGS  239 

pound  interest  will  in  time  be  a  mine  of  wealth  to  its 
possessor.  And  religion  is  styled  by  Christ  himself 
a  "  laying  up  treasure."  Every  true  thought,  every 
emotion  of  humility,  trust,  worship,  every  deed  of 
submission,  bene\olence,  forgiveness,  is  so  much 
added  to  our  heavenly  treasure,  if  it  be  only  exer- 
cised in  God's  appointed  way  through  Christ  and  in 
conscious  dependence  upon  Christ.  Not  one  of  them 
all  shall  lose  its  reward.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
every  little  deviation  from  the  path  marked  out  by 
conscience  and  Scripture  is  a  wasting  of  our  sub- 
stance, a  casting  of  so  much  heavenly  treasure  into 
the  sea.  There  is  not  only  a  laying  up  of  treasure  in 
heaven,  but  a  "  treasuring  up  of  wrath  against  the 
day  of  wrath  and  revelation  of  the  righteous  judg- 
ment of  God." 

And  so  the  best  evidence  of  Christian  progress  and 
of  the  reality  of  our  Christian  life  is  to  be  found  in 
a  growing  faithfulness  in  little  things.  In  certain 
great  things  ordinary  self-respect  may  keep  us  true  to 
our  covenant,  but  only  the  love  of  Christ  within  the 
heart  is  a  sufficiently  constant  force  to  keep  us 
minutely  true  and  honest.  When  I  see  a  new  con- 
vert unwilling  to  do  small  duties  and  always  on  the 
lookout  for  large  ones,  I  tremble  for  him.  He  is 
called  to  live  for  Christ,  and  life  is  not  made  up  of 
large  duties  half  so  much  as  it  is  of  small.  He  who 
has  no  conscience  about  small  matters  can  never  live 
for  Christ  at  all.  And  there  is  no  sign  of  growth 
more  cheering  in  a  Christian  than  his  determination 
to  honor  Christ,  not  on  set  occasions  simply,  but  in 
the  thoughts  of  every  hour  as  it  flies,  and  in  those 


240  MISCELLANIES 

minor  matters  of  family  and  social  life  in  which  most 
men  are  conscious  of  no  responsibility.  Increasing 
sensitiveness  of  conscience,  enlarged  views  of  obliga- 
tion, willingness  to  do  humble  work  for  Jesus — these 
are  the  true  tests  of  Christian  advancement.  How 
is  it?  Do  you  find,  as  months  go  by,  that  your  per- 
formance of  public  and  private  duty  becomes  more 
regular  and  punctual  and  conscientious?  Do  rainy 
Sabbaths  keep  you  less  from  the  house  of  God  than 
they  used  to?  Do  wandering  thoughts  in  prayer 
come  less  often,  and  when  they  do  come,  trouble  you 
more?  Do  worldly  enjoyments  seem  less  attractive, 
and  does  your  real  happiness  rest  more  entirely  in 
God  than  it  did  years  ago?  Do  you  look  less  to 
others  for  your  standard  of  duty  and  more  to  God's 
word  and  the  example  of  Jesus?  Are  you  more 
anxious  that  every  day  should  see  something,  how- 
ever slight,  done  for  your  own  advance  in  holiness, 
for  the  salvation  of  souls,  for  the  honor  of  God? 
Are  you  more  and  more  conscious  of  living  under 
the  eye  of  God  and  of  being  personally  responsible 
to  God?  Do  you  feel  every  year  that  your  interests 
and  the  interests  of  God's  church  are  identical,  that 
the  prosperity  of  the  church  depends  upon  you,  that 
the  relation  of  membership  in  the  church  makes  every 
one  belonging  to  it  a  brother  or  sister  to  you,  for 
whose  spiritual  peace  and  prosperity  you  are  to  pray, 
for  whose  growth  in  grace  and  usefulness  you  are 
to  labor,  by  kind  words,  by  visits  of  Christian  love, 
by  public  exhortation,  by  private  sympathy  in  their 
several  griefs  and  trials?  These  are  none  of  them 
great  duties;  they  are  the  little,   common   things   of 


LITTLE    THINGS  24I 

Christian  life;  they  are  on  that  very  account  the  best 
tests  of  our  Christian  state.  Let  us  judge  ourselves 
by  these,  for  by  them  we  shall  be  judged.  I  trust 
that  many  of  us  can  fairly  say  that  the  application 
of  these  tests  shows  that  the  past  few  years  have 
been  a  gain  to  us  and  not  a  loss.  But  if  it  be  not 
so,  let  us  face  the  truth.  Let  us  not  think  that  some 
great  thing  we  have  done  can  balance  the  evidence 
which  these  little  things  bring  against  us.  Regu- 
larity, punctuality;  conscientiousness,  fidelity  to  Christ 
and  his  church  in  little  things,  these  are  the  tests  of 
character.  For  it  is  Christ  himself  that  says :  "  He 
that  is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least  is  faithful  also  in 
much;  and  he  that  is  unjust  in  the  least  is  unjust  also 
in  much." 

I  would  that  I  could  reach  those  who  are  impeni- 
tent to-day  and  convince  them  how  important  are 
those  seeming  trifles  that  keep  them  away  from  Christ. 
It  is  some  sin,  my  friends,  that  ties  you  to  the  world 
and  prevents  you  from  being  saved ;  and  unless  that 
sin  be  broken  up,  you  have  no  hope  of  salvation.  A 
long  time  ago  I  had  a  room  in  a  hotel  by  the  seaside. 
From  my  window  I  could  see  many  a  bright-colored 
boat  floating  on  the  waves.  But  there  was  one  that 
never  moved  from  its  place.  The  tide  came  and  went 
twice  a  day.  The  boat  rose  and  fell  with  the  rising 
and  falling  of  the  water.  When  the  tide  went  out, 
it  seemed  as  if  it  must  float  out  on  the  current  that 
swept  so  grandly  out  to  sea.  I  wondered  why  it  was 
so  motionless,  so  utterly  unaffected  by  the  streaming 
in  and  out  of  the  water  around  it.  One  day  I  found 
the  secret.  A  cord  no  thicker  than  your  little  finger 
Q 


242  MISCELLANIES 

tied  it  to  a  buoy  just  beneath  the  surface.  If  that 
cord  had  only  been  cut  by  a  penknife  stroke  the  boat 
would  have  been  free  to  obey  the  strong  influences 
that  urged  it  from  its  place.  But  it  was  fast;  the 
little  cord  was  as  good  as  a  ship's  cable;  until  that 
was  severed  all  movement  was  impossible.  It  is  so 
with  the  sinner.  The  tide  of  religious  influence 
around  him  comes  and  goes.  He  is  moved  by  it  more 
or  less,  as  the  boat  is  lifted  and  then  falls  again,  but 
times  of  religious  interest  come  and  go,  and  he  is 
just  where  he  was  before.  Why  is  it?  Ah,  there 
is  a  cord  that  holds  him,  and  that  cord  of  pride  or 
self-seeking  or  sensual  appetite  or  worldly  plans  or  bad 
associates  he  will  not  cut.  The  Spirit  draws  him; 
once  loosed  from  his  sins  by  a  sharp  decision  of  the 
will  and  he  might  be  borne  outward  and  onward  into 
the  measureless  ocean  of  God's  love  and  peace,  but 
he  delays — he  is  bound  to  the  earth,  he  is  a  captive 
of  Satan.  It  seems  a  little  thing  that  hinders  him 
from  obeying  the  gospel,  but  that  little  thing  may  be 
a  chain  to  keep  him  out  of  heaven  through  all  eternity. 
And  yet  it  is  not  because  this  one  sin  is  the  only 
sin,  that  giving  it  up  is  so  important.  There  are 
many  sins,  but  this  is  the  one  to  which  the  soul  clings 
and  where  the  stand  is  made  against  God.  It  is  the 
point  of  the  wedge,  itself  thin  and  apparently  insig- 
nificant, but  backed  up  by  the  whole  sin  of  the  heart 
and  life.  Break  this  point  and  all  opposition  ofttimes 
ceases.  How  often  the  convicted  sinner  seems  will- 
ing to  surrender  all  but  one  thing  to  God.  Every- 
thing else  apparently  ready  to  be  given  up,  but  one 
cherished    friendship,    one   darling   plan   of   life,    one 


LITTLE    THINGS  243 

scheme  of  gain,  one  secret  sin,  one  unforgiving  feel- 
ing, must  be  kept.  And  in  that  one  reservation  all 
the  strength  of  the  will  entrenches  and  fortifies  itself; 
there  the  whole  being  is  arrayed  in  rebellion  and  war 
against  God.  While  that  position  is  not  surrendered, 
nothing  is  surrendered.  Though  it  may  seem  a  small 
reserve,  it  is  a  keeping  back  of  all.  O  my  friends,  how 
much  you  need  to  remember  that  no  sin  can  be  small ! 
No  sin  can  be  other  than  infinitely  great  that  prevents 
your  submission  to  God  and  your  acceptance  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Count  no  sin  little,  since  the  least  sin  that 
prevents  you  from  believing  the  gospel  and  living  for 
God  will  work  the  death  of  the  soul.  It  is  all  one 
whether  you  are  drowned  near  the  shore  or  in  the 
depths  of  the  sea.  And  it  will  be  all  one  whether 
you  have  committed  one  sin  or  many,  so  long  as  the 
result  is  that  you  are  drowned  in  perdition. 

It  is  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  of  the  gospel  that 
it  makes  salvation  turn  on  little  things.  It  is  just  so 
in  all  critical  maladies.  When  you  are  deadly  sick 
it  is  oftenest  the  slight  addition  of  good  care,  the 
faithful  attention  to  minute  directions,  the  putting  of 
the  case  quickly  and  implicitly  into  the  physician's 
hands  that  decides  how  the  case  will  turn.  I  have 
known  mothers  to  mourn  all  their  lives  that  they  gave 
one  prescription  wrongly,  because  it  cost  the  life  of  a 
child.  And  if  there  is  anything  that  will  cause  mourn- 
ing throughout  eternity  to  the  lost,  it  will  be  that  with 
the  best  of  all  physicians  for  the  soul,  and  the  most 
specific  and  simple  directions  in  his  word,  they  per- 
sisted in  thinking  themselves  the  best  judges  of  the 
case,  and  so  died  in  their  sins.     A  little  humility,  a 


244  MISCELLANIES 

little  submission,  a  little  trust  might  have  saved  them ; 
a  little  pride,  a  little  obstinacy,  a  little  unholy  passion, 
a  little  needless  delay  proved  the  grave  of  all  their 
hopes.  But  shall  their  fate  make  the  mercy  of  God 
any  the  less  conspicuous,  that  mercy  which  prefixes 
no  other  condition  to  salvation  but  this  one :  "  Come 
unto  me"?  You  think  the  way  too  narrow?  But 
is  it  not  a  mercy  to  the  blinded  and  wandering  sinner 
that  there  are  not  a  hundred  ways  for  him  to  perplex 
himself  about  and  choose  between,  but  only  one  way? 
Is  it  not  a  blessing  that  a  plain  declaration  is  made 
to  all  that  "  there  is  no  other  name  given  among  men 
whereby  we  can  be  saved  "  ?  "  Believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  " — that  is  a  little  thing — I  thank  God 
that  it  is  so  little;  if  it  had  been  any  harder  or  more 
difficult  to  comprehend,  I  might  never  have  been  able 
to  comply  with  the  condition,  and  so  I  might  never 
have  been  saved. 

Is  there  one  here  to-day  who  has  been  hesitating 
and  doubting  and  holding  back,  because  it  seemed 
so  incomprehensible  and  impossible  a  thing  to  be- 
come a  Christian?  See,  friend,  how  simple  and 
easy  is  the  way.  It  is  a  little  thing  that  is  required 
of  you — simply  to  submit  your  soul  to  Jesus  and  trust 
him  for  all  you  need.  It  is  a  straight  gate  and  a 
narrow  way,  but  it  leadeth  unto  life.  It  opens  be- 
fore you  at  the  very  spot  on  which  you  stand.  Nay, 
Christ  himself  is  by  you,  ready  to  lead  you  through 
and  lead  you  ever  after,  for  he  is  not  only  the  door 
into  this  sheepfold,  but  also  the  shepherd  of  the  sheep. 
I  am  sure  that  if  you  but  do  this  little  thing,  trust 
your  whole  soul  to  Jesus,  all  else  will  be  involved  in 


LITTLE   THINGS  ^45 

it ;  your  faith,  sinner  as  you  are,  will  be  counted  for 
righteousness;  a  new  principle  of  life  will  begin  to 
work  within  you,  gradually  transforming  your  whole 
nature;  and  a  holy  life  here  and  a  blessed  existence 
hereafter  will  prove  the  truth  of  Jesus'  words,  "  He 
that  is  faitliful  in  that  which  is  least,  is  faithful  also 
in  much." 

One  thought  more  will  complete  what   I  have  to 
say :  We  do  not  see  the  full  importance  of  little  things 
until  we  realize  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  probation." 
Have  you  ever  pondered  the  truth  that  actual  results 
in  this  life  are  not  the  chief  thing— but  that  the  chief 
thing  is  the  determination  of  what  we  are  fit  for  here- 
after?    This  world  is  only  a  place  for  the  trial  and 
manifestation  of  our  characters.     Some  people  object 
that  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  the  sins  of  a  little 
lifetime  are  to  be  visited  with  an  eternity  of  punish- 
ment, or  that  the  little  faith  and  love  of  these  passing 
years  are  to  be  rewarded  with  an  eternity  of  glory. 
But  suppose  we  leave  out  all  idea  of  reward  and  pun- 
ishment and  look  at  life  as  a  simple  opportunity  to 
show  what  we  are  and  where  we  belong— to   form 
our  habits  and  tastes,  to  make  up  the  whole  tone  of 
our  characters,  with  reference  to  a  future  state  of 
existence.     In  the  system  at  West  Point  we  do  not 
object  that  the  young  cadet's  course  decides  his  arm 
of  the  service  thereafter.     It  is  a  very  brief  time  to 
decide  for  a  whole  life  whether  he  is  to  devote  him- 
self to  mathematics  and  bridge-building,  or  whether 
he  is  to  be  an  officer  of  cavalry.     But  it  is  perfectly 
fair.      His   tastes   and   proficiency   during   those    five 
years  show  as  well  where  he  belongs  as  forty  years 


246  MISCELLANIES 

would.  Do  you  suppose  those  antediluvian  sinners, 
Lamech  and  Cain,  would  have  been  any  better  off  if 
their  probation  had  been  lengthened  from  five  hun- 
dred to  one  thousand  or  ten  thousand  years?  Ah, 
no;  character  is  formed  long  before  fifty  years  are 
past. 

The  little  acts  of  a  brief  lifetime  may  show 
where  a  man's  place  is,  quite  as  well  as  if  he  lived 
the  whole  lifetime  of  the  earth.  Aye,  one  act  may 
determine  a  whole  future,  and  reveal  the  depths  of 
character.  Adam's  one  sin  showed  his  mind  toward 
God  and  what,  without  God's  grace,  would  have  been 
his  character  for  eternity.  My  friends,  there  will  be 
nothing  arbitrary  about  the  divine  decisions.  Just 
as  the  early  apostles,  released  from  prison,  went  at 
once  to  their  own  company,  just  so  each  of  us  will 
go  to  his  own  company  when  the  great  doors  of  the 
other  world  open  before  us.  It  will  not  need  any 
fiat  of  the  Judge  to  send  Judas  to  his  own  place,  nor 
Paul  to  his.  The  little  things  of  life  will  have  de- 
cided that  already.  The  true  lover  of  God  and  hum- 
ble follower  of  Christ  never  can  be  cheated  of  his 
inheritance,  for  with  powers  cleared  from  all  the 
effects  of  sin  and  sublimated  for  stronger  and  holier 
flights,  it  will  be  only  in  accordance  with  natural  law 
that  the  Judge  shall  say :  "  Thou  hast  been  faithful 
over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  thee  ruler  over  many 
things."  Nor  can  he  who  has  been  unfaithful  here, 
by  any  artifice  or  chance,  escape  his  proper  inherit- 
ance. Never  allow  yourself  to  believe,  my  brother, 
that  you  can  live  as  the  worldling  lives,  live  as  if  God 
were  blind  and  Christ  were  a  myth,  and  yet,   by  a 


LITTLE    THINGS  247 

little  cheap  repentance  on  your  deathbed,  stand  as  high 
and  be  as  well  off  beyond  the  flood,  as  if  you  had 
lived  like  a  Payson  or  a  Paul.  No !  no !  God  is  not 
mocked — "  whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also 
reap."  The  things  you  think  so  little  of  are  deciding 
whether  your  place  there  shall  be  among  those  of 
whom  it  is  said  that  "  His  servants  shall  serve  him," 
or  among  those  unprofitable  servants  who  are  cast 
into  the  outer  darkness.  I  beseech  you,  then,  to  ex- 
amine this  matter  of  little  things  in  the  light  of  eter- 
nity. Remember  that  stupendous  scene,  which  all  of 
us  are  one  day  to  witness,  whose  outlines  Christ  has 
sketched  with  so  vivid  pencil,  that  scene  where  the 
"  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father  "  is  based  upon  "  In- 
asmuch as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my 
brethren,"  and  the  solemn  doom,  "  Depart,  ye  cursed," 
is  grounded  on  this  all-sufficient  reason,  "  Inasmuch  as 
ye  did  it  not  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did 
it  not  unto  me."  Blessed  be  God,  that  while  the 
little  things  of  life  shall  determine  the  everlasting 
punishment  of  the  wicked,  the  little  things  done  for 
Christ  and  for  souls  shall  determine  the  true  destiny 
of  the  righteous  to  be  life  eternal. 


XXXVI 
OPEN  VISION ' 

The  word  of  Jehovah  was  precious  (or  rare)  in  those  days :  there 
was  no  open  (or  frequent)  vision,     (i  Sam.  3:  i.) 

That  was  a  dark  time  in  Israel.  There  was  no  set- 
tled government.  Anarchy  exposed  the  people  to  the 
assaults  of  the  heathen  round  about  them.  Idolatry 
deprived  them  of  the  one  religious  principle  which 
might  have  given  them  unity  and  courage.  Without 
faith  in  God,  they  were  left  a  prey  to  their  enemies. 
The  tabernacle  indeed  remained,  but  old  Eli,  with 
his  two  reckless  and  licentious  sons,  showed  how  im- 
potent mere  ceremonialism  is  to  stay  the  tide  of 
human  passion  and  selfishness. 

But  God  had  pity  upon  the  apostate  nation.  He 
desires  to  communicate  himself  to  men.  Like  the 
all-surrounding  atmosphere  he  presses  into  our  lives, 
and  wherever  there  is  an  empty  nook  or  crevice,  he 
will  enter  in.  Most  of  us  are  so  full  of  our  own  con- 
cerns that  we  leave  no  room  for  God.  It  is  only  the 
simple,  the  humble,  the  childlike,  that  receive  him. 
It  seemed  as  if  in  Israel  there  was  only  one  such  re- 
ceptive nature.  It  was  the  little  Samuel.  In  the 
darkness  of  the  night  God  spoke  to  him.  The  things 
that  were  hidden   from  the  wise   and   prudent   were 

'  A   sermon  preached   in   the  Parsells  Avenue   Baptist  Church,   Rochester. 
N.  Y.,  at  the  ordination  of  Samuel  F.  Langford,  September  13,   1904. 

248 


OPEN    VISION  249 

revealed  unto  a  bab.e.  And  so  began  a  long  line  of 
prophets,  and  there  was  at  length  open  vision  of  God 
and  his  truth. 

I  wish  to  take  this  phrase  "  open  vision,"  and  make 
it  the  foundation  of  a  discourse  on  God's  communi- 
cations to  men.  Let  us  notice,  first,  man's  great  need 
of  open  vision.  We  appreciate  very  highly  our  need 
of  insight  into  the  laws  of  nature  and  the  characters 
of  our  fellow-men;  for  without  knowledge  of  gravi- 
tation we  might  fearlessly  walk  over  the  precipice, 
and  without  knowledge  of  human  iniquity  we  might 
innocently  put  ourselves  into  the  clutches  of  the  vil- 
lain. But  to  know  God  is  more  needful  still,  for 
without  knowing  him  we  cannot  properly  understand 
ourselves  or  anything  else.  The  soul  is  made  for 
God,  and  it  is  restless  until  it  finds  rest  in  him. 
That  is  a  beautiful  picture  in  the  book  of  Genesis  of 
man's  unfallen  condition — the  loving  pair  walking 
with  God  in  the  garden,  as  little  children  with  their 
father,  listening  to  his  words,  protected  by  his  pres- 
ence, obedient  to  his  will.  All  the  subsequent  his- 
tory of  the  good  is  an  effort  to  get  back  to  Eden. 
Moses  prays:  "I  beseech  thee,  show  me  thy  glory!" 
Job  cried :  "  Oh,  that  I  knew  where  I  might  find  him !  " 
David  pleads :  "  Hide  not  thy  face  from  me !  "  Only 
in  Jesus  is  the  lost  vision  of  God  perfectly  restored. 

Conscience  is  not  enough.  That  has  been  left  as 
God's  witness  in  the  soul,  since  the  sense  of  his  per- 
sonal presence  has  ceased.  But  conscience  can  only 
warn.  The  mandatory  element  cannot  overcome  the 
influence  of  strong  temptation,  nor  answer  the  sophis- 
tries that  make  the  worse  appear  the  better  reason. 


250  MISCELLANIES 

The  Bible  is  not  enough.  Even  though  it  is  the  rec- 
ord of  God's  past  revelations,  it  may  become  a  merely 
external  word  that  has  no  power  to  quicken  the  dead 
soul.  Some  power  is  needed  that  can  turn  the  outer 
word  into  an  inner  word,  with  power  to  move  and 
melt  the  heart.  Preaching  is  not  enough,  and  or- 
dinances are  not  enough,  and  churches  are  not  enough. 
What  we  need  is  living  contact  with  God  himself, 
personal  intercourse  with  the  Father  of  our  spirits. 
Conscience  and  Bible  and  preaching  and  ordinances 
and  churches  are  valuable,  just  so  far  as  they  pre- 
pare the  way  for  our  own  access  to  God,  but  they 
fail  of  their  purpose  if  they  bring  us  only  to  the  gate 
of  the  temple  and  leave  us  without  the  open  vision. 

Notice,  secondly,  that  there  are  times  when  this 
open  vision  is  peculiarly  needed.  In  the  book  of 
Proverbs  the  wise  man  tells  us  that  where  there  is  no 
vision  the  people  perish.  Vision — by  which  I  mean 
the  apprehension  of  God's  presence  and  the  under- 
standing of  his  will — is  the  only  thing  that  can  keep 
either  the  individual  or  the  community  or  the  nation 
from  moral  deterioration.  Things  will  never  go  of 
themselves  unless  they  are  running  down-hill.  There 
is  a  downward  gravitation  of  our  nature  which  nothing 
but  the  sight  of  God  and  the  motives  drawn  from  the 
unseen  world  can  ever  counteract.  Plato  speaks  of 
"  that  blind,  many-headed  wild  beast  of  all  that  is 
evil  within  thee."  The  blindness  is  not  so  much  the 
cause  of  sin  as  it  is  the  result  of  sin.  Sin  is  an  opiate 
that  takes  away  our  powers  of  moral  perception,  and 
the  more  we  sin  the  more  blind  we  become  to  the 
real  nature  of  our  condition  or  to  the  danger  of  it. 


OPEN    VISION  251 

Physicians  tell  us  that  some  of  the  most  deadly  dis- 
eases do  not  reveal  themselves  in  the  patient's  coun- 
tenance, nor  has  the  patient  any  adequate  conscious- 
ness of  his  malady. 

Some  years  ago  I  visited  an  asylum  for  the  blind. 
As  I  inspected  their  recitation-rooms  and  saw  their 
eagerness  to  learn,  I  felt  thankful  for  the  new  science 
that  was  providing  books  with  raised  letters,  and  was 
permitting  touch  to  be  substituted  for  sight.  And 
when  I  saw  hundreds  of  those  sightless  human  beings 
gathered  in  the  great  lecture  hall,  and  waiting  silently 
for  some  word  to  be  spoken  to  them,  it  was  a  privi- 
lege to  utter  that  word.  But  when,  a  litde  time  after, 
I  heard  of  the  burning  of  a  similar  asylum,  and  of  the 
frantic  groping  of  the  poor  blind  children  toward  the 
fire-escapes  when  the  stairways  were  cut  off  by  the 
smoke,  I  realized  as  never  before  the  misery  of  those 
who  have  eyes,  but  who  cannot  see.  In  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, the  king  of  Syria  sent  horses  and  chariots 
and  a  great  host  to  encompass  the  city  of  Dothan 
and  capture  Elisha  the  prophet.  Elisha  prayed 
Jehovah  to  smite  the  army  with  blindness,  and  the 
prophet  led  that  blind  host  into  the  very  midst  of  their 
enemies.  It  was  a  mercy  to  them,  for  food  and  drink 
was  put  before  them  and  they  were  set  free.  But 
Satan  sometimes  blinds  a  whole  people,  only  to 
destroy  them.  They  sink  into  immorality  or  give 
themselves  up  to  commercial  gambling,  or  go  out  on 
wars  of  conquest,  because  they  lack  the  vision  of  God 
and  have  no  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes. 

A  third  truth  which  I  would  have  you  notice  is 
this:    God    restores   his   people   by   giving   the   open 


252  MISCELLANIES 

vision  to  a  few.  The  darkest  part  of  the  night  is 
just  before  the  dawn.  When  the  enemy  comes  in 
Hke  a  flood  the  Lord  Hfts  up  a  standard  against  him. 
God  never  leaves  himself  without  a  witness.  Some- 
where, in  the  most  godless  times,  can  be  found  those 
who  love  and  serve  God.  Elijah  may  fancy  that  he 
alone  is  left  to  stand  for  the  truth  among  a  nation 
of  idolaters,  but  God  shows  him  that  he  has  yet  seven 
thousand  in  Israel  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to 
Baal.  And  God  makes  this  very  Elijah  the  begin- 
ning of  a  second  line  of  prophets,  that  holds  on 
through  Elisha  and  Ezekiel  even  to  Malachi  and  John 
the  Baptist.  At  the  very  time  that  the  army  of  the 
king  of  Syria  is  stricken  with  blindness,  supernatural 
vision  is  granted  to  Elisha's  servant,  and  the  young 
man's  eyes  are  opened ;  he  sees,  and,  behold !  the  moun- 
tain is  full  of  horses  and  chariots  of  fire  round  about 
his  master. 

So,  in  every  dark  da}'  in  the  history  of  his  people, 
God  wakens  some  chosen  servant  of  his  to  see  what 
the  common  crowd  are  blind  to.  And  this  it  is  to  be 
a  prophet.  The  prophet  is  one  lifted  up  in  spirit  so 
that  he  gets  God's  point  of  view,  sees  the  things  of 
the  present  under  the  form  of  eternity,  descries 
truths  which  to  his  contemporaries  are  yet  below  the 
horizon.  It  does  not  follow  that  he  will  be  able  to 
predict  the  future,  though  to  know  the  spiritual  sig- 
nificance of  the  present  is  to  have  premonitions  of 
things  to  come.  But  he  will  see  the  relations  of  the 
present  life  to  God,  and  so  will  be  able  to  speak  words 
which  go  to  the  heart  of  present  needs.  It  does  not 
follow  that  he  will  be  able  to  give  new  communica- 


OPEN    VISION  253 

tions  of  truth — John  the  Baptist  only  interpreted 
Isaiah.  But  he  recognized  the  fulfihnent  of  Isaiah 
in  the  Christ,  and  he  pointed  his  disciples  to  the 
Lamb  of  God.  In  this  sense  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
New  Testament  prophecy.  Luther  and  Wesley  were 
prophets  of  this  sort;  themselves  waked  up  to  behold 
wondrous  things  out  of  God's  law,  and  commissioned 
to  wake  up  the  whole  generation  in  which  each  of 
them  lived.  Thank  God,  the  goodly  fellowship  of 
the  prophets  is  not  yet  extinct.  The  line  that  began 
with  Samuel  and  Elijah  still  continues  to  bless  the 
world.  Every  modern  preacher  who  gets  his  mes- 
sage in  the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High,  and  comes 
to  men  with  an  overmastering  conviction  of  its  press- 
ing importance,  is  an  organ  of  God's  revelation  and 
a  means  in  God's  hands  of  opening  men's  blind  eyes 
to  see  the  truth  whose  acceptance  or  rejection  is  a 
matter  of  life  or  death  eternal. 

There  is  a  fourth  truth  which  I  would  have  you 
consider.  It  is  this :  The  open  vision  lays  upon  those 
few  who  experience  it  a  heavy  burden.  The  imme- 
diate effect  is  prostration  before  the  majesty  of  God, 
and  self-abasement  in  view  of  their  own  impurity  and 
unworthiness.  Job  cries :  "  I  had  heard  of  thee  by 
the  hearing  of  the  ear,  but  now  mine  eye  seeth  thee : 
Wherefore  I  abhor  myself,  and  repent  in  dust  and 
ashes."  When  Isaiah  beholds  the  Lord  sitting  upon 
his  throne,  high  and  lifted  up,  he  takes  to  himself 
the  language  of  the  leper,  and  calls  himself  unclean. 
But,  with  eyes  opened  to  see  God's  purity  and  glory, 
the  next  feeling  is  deep  compassion  for  the  blindness 
and  lost   condition   of   men.     They   seem   like   sheep 


254  MISCELLANIES 

without  a  shepherd,  wandering  on  the  dark  moun- 
tains and  hastening  to  ruin.  The  sense  of  their  guilt 
is  mingled  with  pity  and  love,  so  that  the  prophet 
identifies  himself  with  those  who  are  perishing,  and, 
like  Moses,  makes  their  case  his  own.  Yet,  even 
then,  there  is  shrinking,  and  fear  to  deliver  God's 
message.  The  child  Samuel  dares  not  tell  Eli  the 
solemn  oracle,  until  the  aged  high  priest  forces  it 
from  his  lips.  Every  true  prophet  of  God.  has  said 
with  Jeremiah :  "  I  know  not  how  to  speak,  for  I  am 
a  child."  The  Spirit  of  God  reproduces  in  the 
prophet  God's  own  suffering  on  account  of  sin,  and 
God's  own  compassion  for  the  lost,  so  that  he  is 
ready  to  say  with  Paul :  "I  have  great  sorrow  and 
unceasing  pain  in  my  heart.  For  I  could  wish  that 
I  myself  were  anathema  from  Christ  for  my  breth- 
ren's sake,  my  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh." 
Every  man  who  has  the  vision  of  God  will  agonize 
over  the  sin  and  misery  of  the  world,  will  know  the 
fellowship  of  Christ's  sufferings,  will  have  his  own 
Gethsemane. 

But  with  this  burden  there  will  be  a  heavenly  joy, 
an  assurance  of  the  redeeming  love  of  God,  and  an 
irresistible  impulse  to  tell  to  others  what  he  has  seen 
and  heard.  The  word  of  the  Lord  becomes  as  fire 
shut  up  in  his  bones,  and  he  cannot  withhold  the 
utterance  of  it.  "  Woe  is  me,  if  I  preach  not  the 
gospel,"  is  the  feeling  of  his  heart.  As  he  has  freely 
received,  so  he  must  freely  give.  He  knows  that 
his  message  will  be  a  savor  of  life  unto  life,  or  of 
death  unto  death,  and  that  it  will  make  a  higher 
heaven   for  those  who  are  saved   and   a   deeper  hell 


OPEN    VISION  255 

for  those  who  perish.  But  it  is  glad  tidings  still,  the 
very  word  of  God,  and  he  must  proclaim  it,  whether 
men  will  hear  or  whether  they  will  forbear.  The 
watchman  must  give  his  warning.  If  the  wicked 
man  turn  not  from  his  way,  he  shall  die  in  his  in- 
iquity, but  the  watchman  has  delivered  his  soul. 

There  is  a  fifth  and  last  thought:  When  a  man 
has  had  the  open  vision,  his  message  is  not  delivered 
in  vain.  Merely  human  words  may  pall  upon  the 
sense  and  waken  no  response.  But  the  vision  of  God 
qualifies  a  man  so  to  speak  that  others  are  compelled 
to  listen  for  their  lives.  "A  mechanically  moved 
corpse,"  it  has  been  said,  "  is  a  poor  substitute  for  a 
living  personality."  The  preacher  or  the  Christian 
who  lacks  the  vision  of  God  is  but  a  corpse.  He  is 
as  powerless  to  move  others  as  were  those  bones  in 
the  valley  that  Ezekiel  saw.  Only  the  Spirit  of  God 
can  put  life  into  him.  But  let  the  vision  dawn  upon 
a  man,  and  he  becomes  a  new  creature.  He  be- 
comes conscious  of  new  powers  and  of  new  impulses 
to  action.  He  has  the  key  to  human  hearts  and  he 
knows  how  to  use  it.  The  same  Peter  who  a  little 
time  ago  denied  his  Master  is  now  endowed  with 
the  power  of  Christ,  and  is  enabled  to  preach  with 
such  boldness  that  three  thousand  are  converted  in 
one  day. 

In  wireless  telegraphy  everything  depends  upon 
perfectly  attuning  the  transmitter  and  the  receiver. 
Just  as  a  tuning-fork  in  one  corner  of  the  room  will 
set  vibrating  a  second  tuning-fork  in  the  other  corner, 
provided  only  that  the  two  have  precisely  the  same 
pitch,    so    Marconi    produces    vibrations    a    thousand 


256  MISCELLANIES 

miles  away  by  setting  up  similar  vibrations  close  at 
hand.     It  is  the  symbol  of  spiritual  influences. 

Down  in  the  human  heart  crushed  by  the  tempter 
Feelings  He  buried  which  grace  may  restore ; 

•Touched  by  a  gentle  hand,  wakened  by  kindness, 
Chords  that  were  silent  will  vibrate  once  more. 

The  man  who  has  the  open  vision  and  comes  into 
living  connection  with  God  has  his  deeper  nature 
quickened  so  that  its  vibrations  produce  like  vibra- 
tions in  all  who  hear  his  message.  "  One  touch  of 
nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin,"  and  when  the 
soul  is  on  fire  with  God  it  can  stir  other  souls  with  its 
own  emotions  and  can  compel  an  audience.  The 
genuine  song  of  the  poet  and  the  genuine  eloquence 
of  the  orator  appeal  to  the  universal  in  man.  But  he 
who  has  had  the  vision  of  God  reaches  men  at  deeper 
depths  than  either  of  these,  by  just  so  much  as  the 
infinite  exceeds  the  finite  and  eternity  is  a  greater 
concern  than  time. 

There  is  no  more  striking  illustration  than  that 
which  is  furnished  by  the  great  Scotch  preacher. 
Doctor  Chalmers.  In  his  younger  days  he  preached 
at  Kilmany  an  emasculated  gospel,  which  was  not  the 
gospel  of  Christ,  but  a  mere  republication  of  the  law 
of  nature.  Christ's  death,  he  declared,  has  furnished 
an  affecting  example  of  self-sacrifice;  now  all  men 
need  is  to  live  a  life  of  virtue.  But  the  results  of 
his  ministry  seemed  but  trifling;  men  paid  but  little 
heed  to  his  message ;  they  neglected  the  church ;  they 
sank  deeper  every  day  in  immorality.  Then  a  brother, 
a  sister,  an  uncle  of  his,  died,  in  quick  succession.  A 
long  sickness  prostrated  him.     At  length,  in  sorrow 


OPEN   VISION  257 

and  pain  and  utter  weakness,  God  gave  him  the  open 
vision.  The  things  of  time  shrank  to  their  proper 
insignificance.  Eternity  and  God  loomed  up  before 
him  with  such  startHng  vividness  as  to  exclude  all 
thought  of  earthly  ambition,  tie  became  a  new  man. 
He  began  to  preach  the  new  truth  which  he  had  ex- 
perienced. He  exposed  the  guilt  of  men's  ungodli- 
ness and  its  fearful  issue  in  a  ruined  eternity.  He 
urged  the  all-embracing  love  of  God  and  the  saving 
grace  of  Jesus  Christ  with  such  vehemence  and  energy 
that  to  unspiritual  hearers  it  seemed  like  insanity. 
But  the  new  love  and  zeal  were  like  a  revelation  from 
heaven.  The  fame  of  them  spread  far  and  wide. 
Tiie  church  was  crowded  with  eager  listeners.  Men 
went  out  from  his  preaching  to  pray  and  to  give 
themselves  to  God.  His  vision  of  God  was  the  means 
of  stirring  not  only  Scotland,  but  the  world. 

And  now,  before  I  close  this  sermon,  there  are  two 
solemn  questions  which  I  wish  to  ask.  One  is  this : 
Is  our  time  a  time  of  open  vision,  or  is  the  word  of 
Jehovah  rare  in  our  days?  I  am  not  talking  now 
about  Bibles  or  Sunday-schools  or  even  about  preach- 
ers. There  are  a  plenty  of  them  all.  The  external 
means  and  instruments  and  observances  are  all  here, 
far  more  of  them,  indeed,  than  there  ever  were  in 
the  age  of  Eli.  But  this  is  the  question:  How  many 
are  there  of  ministers  or  of  private  Christians  who 
have  the  open  vision  of  God,  who  keep  in  living  com- 
munication with  Christ,  who  are  led  by  his  Spirit, 
who  are  supernaturally  enlightened  to  know  his  will 
and  to  make  it  known  to  others?  Isaiah  could  say: 
"  The  Lord   God  hath  cfiven  me  the  tono:ue   of  the 


258  MISCELLANIES 

learned  that  I  should  know  how  to  speak  a  word  in 
season  to  him  that  is  weary :  he  wakeneth  morning 
hy  morning,  he  wakeneth  mine  ear  to  hear  as  the 
learned."  How  many  are  there  now  who  hear  God's 
voice,  calling  to  them  as  it  called  to  Samuel  in  the 
watches  of  the  night,  and  giving  to  them  his  solemn 
message  to  the  Elis  of  the  church  and  to  the  unfaith- 
ful people  of  God?  Have  not  the  material  progress 
of  our  time,  the  riches,  the  luxury,  the  science  falsely 
so  called,  almost  quenched  the  fires  of  devotion,  so 
that  the  days  of  great  revivals,  of  family  prayer,  of 
secret  communion  with  God,  are  largely  things  of 
the  past — things  that  we  read  about,  and  wonder  at, 
and  sometimes — God  help  us ! — smile  at,  as  antiquated 
and  narrow  and  superstitious?  Are  we  not  a  great 
company  of  Laodiceans,  and  does  not  Christ's  word 
come  to  us :  "  Because  thou  sayest,  I  am  rich,  and 
have  gotten  riches,  and  have  need  of  nothing;  and 
knowest  not  that  thou  art  the  wretched  one  and  mis- 
erable and  poor  and  blind  and  naked :  I  counsel  thee 
to  buy  of  me  gold  refined  by  fire,  that  thou  mayest 
become  rich ;  and  white  garments,  that "  thou  mayest 
clothe  thyself,  and  that  the  shame  of  thy  nakedness 
be  not  made  manifest;  and  eyesalve  to  anoint  thine 
eyes,  that  thou  mayest  see."  Must  not  we  preachers 
confess  that  too  much  of  our  preaching  has  been  the 
repetition  of  forms  of  words,  words  that  once  meant 
something,  but  from  which  the  spirit  and  life  and 
power  have  departed?  Are  we  not  too  often 
"  prophets  who  find  no  vision  from  the  Lord,"  and 
are  content  to  have  it  so?  May  not  we  too,  say  to 
the  Lord:   "None  stirreth  up  himself  to  take  hold 


OPEN    VISION  259 

on  thee"r  Have  not  the  days  come  or  "  famine  in 
the  land,  not  a  famme  of  bread,  nor  a  thirst  for  water, 
but  of  hearing  the  words  of  Jehovah  "?  And  is  not 
the  result  of  this  lack  of  witness  that  the  worldly 
man  "  will  not  seek  God,  and  God  is  not  in  all  his 
thoughts"?  And  because  we  withhold  our  witness, 
will  not  the  wicked  man  die  in  his  iniquity,  and  will 
not  God  require  his  blood  at  our  hand? 

There  is  one  question  more:  Who  of  us  wills  to 
have  the  open  vision,  and  wills  then  to  declare  it? 
Who  of  us  sets  himself  to  be  a  messenger  of  God  to 
this  generation?  Who  of  us  will  take  the  vision, 
with  its  burden  and  its  suffering,  with  its  exaltation 
and  its  joy?  Who  will  listen  to  the  still  small  voice 
that  silences  ambition,  rejects  wealth,  crushes  the 
flesh  with  its  affections  and  lusts,  discloses  the  secrets 
of  eternity,  whispers  a  message 

So  gotten   of  the   immediate   soul, 
So  instant   from  the   vital  Fount  of  things 
Which  is  our  Source  and  Goal, 

that  whosoever  hears  it  repeated  doubts  not  that 
through  the  words  of  the  human  preacher  or  teacher 
he  has  heard  the  words  of  the  living  God  to  his  soul, 
that  word  which  shall  judge  him  at  the  last  day? 
Who  wills  to  be  a  prophet  of  God?  As  in  wireless 
telegraphy,  the  whole  atmosphere  may  be  throbbing 
with  vibrations  which  only  one  attuned  receiver  can 
understand,  so  the  universe  is  pulsating  with  God's 
communications  of  his  love  and  grace,  but  only  the 
heart  in  harmony  with  him  can  receive  them.  Is  God 
silent  to  us?     Ah.  the  silence  is  not  in  God,  but  in 


260  MISCELLANIES 

our  inability  to  hear.  We  have  had  the  vision, — we 
have  heard  the  voice.  But  we  have  treated  the  voice 
as  if  it  were  the  voice  of  man.  We  have  been  dis- 
obedient to  the  heavenly  vision.  And  so  we  have 
become  blind  to  the  vision  and  deaf  to  the  voice. 
Let  this  be  so  no  longer!  When  the  vision  comes 
to  us,  as  it  came  to  Saul,  may  we  ask  in  all  submission : 
"Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?"  When  we 
hear  the  voice  that  Isaiah  heard  from  above  the  cher- 
ubim, saying:  "  Whom  shall  I  send,  and  who  will  go 
for  us?  "  let  us  reply :  "  Here  am  I ;  send  me."  When 
spiritual  darkness  covers  the  land  and  gross  darkness 
the  people,  the  call  of  God  even  to  a  little  child  may 
be  one  of  the  momentous  facts  of  history,  the  signal 
of  a  new  epoch  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  beginning 
of  open  vision  for  all  God's  people,  the  trumpet-call 
to  Zion :  "Arise,  shine ;  for  thy  light  is  come,  and  the 
glory  of  Jehovah  is  risen  upon  thee."  My  halting, 
stammering,  weak,  and  unhappy  brother  in  the  min- 
istry, half  deaf  and  half  blind  as  you  feel  yourself  to 
be,  God  calls  to  you  to-night,  as  he  called  of  old : 
"Samuel!  Samuel!"  Submit  yourself  to  God  in 
childlike  simplicity  and  faith ;  say  to  him,  as  Samuel 
did,  "  Speak,  Lord,  for  thy  servant  heareth !  "  and 
you  too  shall  have  the  open  vision,  and  shall  be  es- 
tablished to  be  a  prophet  of  the  Lord.  Christ  is  the 
great  prophet,  and  the  man  who  joins  himself  to 
Christ  shall  be  not  only  a  prophet,  but  also  a  priest  and 
a  king. 


XXXVII 

OBEDIENCE  BEFORE  KNOWLEDGE 


If  any  man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine, 
whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself.  (John 
7:17.) 

There  are  many  perplexed  and  doubting  persons 
to-day  who  require  this  same  prescription  for  their 
difficulties  that  Jesus  gave  to  the  Jews.  Obedience 
before  knowledge,  that  is  the  divine  order.  Do  the 
mysteries  of  religion  confound  your  reason?  Submit 
yourself  to  God  and  follow  his  precepts;  you  shall 
learn  all  that  you  need  to  know.  Is  the  path  of  duty 
hard  to  find?  Let  your  will  be  set  to  do  the  will  of 
God  and  the  path  of  duty  shall  be  made  plain  to  you. 
Only  an  obedient  spirit-^that  is  the  teaching  of  Christ 
— only  an  obedient  spirit  can  ever  become  possessed 
of  spiritual  truth.  ^Qbey  and  you  shall  know.  Now. 
this  is  not  a  demand  of  unreasoning  obedience ;  this 
is  not  a  swallowing  down  of  things  incomprehen- 
sible ;  this  is  not  a  taking  for  granted  of  the  questions 
in  dispute ;  it  is  only  saying  in  other  words  that  none 
but  a  heart  humble,  reverent,  submissive,  loving 
toward  God  can  ever  understand  God  or  the  ways 
of  God.  Two  or  three  simple  considerations  will 
make  this  plain. 

'A    baccalaureate    sermon,    preached    at    Denison    University,    Granville, 
Ohio,    June   23,    1873. 

261 


262  MISCELLANIES 

L  First,  the  obedient  spirit  is  the  only  spirit  that  is 
T  willing  to  learn.  There  is  a  certain  knowledge  of 
God's  existence  which  we  possess  by  nature.  But  the 
most  of  our  knowledge  about  God's  attributes  and  deal- 
ings is  an  acquired  knowledge.  And  in  the  acquisi- 
tion of  that  knowledge  nothing  hinders  us  so  much  as 
the  assumption  that  we  know  already.  In  coming  to 
know  of  God  there  is  nothing  we  need  so  much  as  a 
humble  confession  of  our  ignorance  and  a  willingness 
to  put  ourselves  in  the  place  of  learners.  We  never  can 
know,  so  long  as  we  assume  that  we  know  already, 
and  refuse  to  put  ourselves  under  a  teacher. 

He  who  would  know  anything  of  God's  truth,  then, 
must  cease  from  being  a  teacher  and  be  content  to 
learn.  He  must  humble  his  pride  of  opinion  and 
put  away  his  prejudices.  He  must  confess  God  to 
be  his  Master  and  not  fancy  that  he  is  God's  master. 
He  must  acknowledge  himself  to  be  a  child  for  ig- 
norance and  weakness,  and  so  must  take  many  things 
at  first  at  his  Father's  word,  in  hope  that  by  and  by 
he  may  come  to  understand  them  for  himself.  There 
is  an  alphabet  in  every  science  which  must  be  learned 
first;  there  are  things  at  the  beginning  which  must 
be  taken  on  faith ;  somewhere  we  must  believe  before 
we  can  know ;  the  trustworthiness  of  our  faculties, 
the  truthfulness  of  parents  and  teachers,  these  we 
must  take  for  granted  at  the  start.  And  it  is  not  dif- 
ferent in  religion.  H  we  would  know  anything  of 
religion  we  must  put  ourselves  under  the  direction  of 
God.  The  very  alphabet  of  religion  is  obedience  to 
God,  as  he  is  revealed  in  conscience,  in  providence,  in 
his  word.     Obey  God's  plain  directions,  those  which 


OBEDIENCE    BEFORE    KNOWLEDGE  263 

you  know  already — and  you  will  be  led  on  to  higher 
and  wider  knowledge.  Refuse  to  obey,  and  no  higher 
and  wider  knowledge  will  ever  dawn  upon  your  soul. 
Consider,  secondly,  that  the  obedient  spirit  is  the 
only  medium  of  insight  into  religious  truth.  We 
need  to  remember  that  all  true  knowledge  of  spiritual     y^^^,^^<_  ^  b«- 


thfngs  is  a  practical  heart  knowledge,  as  distinguished 


J  UK^/OV^    -^^ 


from  the  knowledge  of  the  intellect,  and  this  is  utterly  .  ^ 

impossible  except  to  the  heart  that  loves  God  and__ 
"obeys  God.  There  are  certain  sorts  of  knowledge 
that  depend  upon  a  state  of  the  sensibilities,  the  af- 
fections, the  tastes.  It  is  absurd  for  a  man  to  say 
that  he  can  know  and  describe  an  orange  simply  by 
using  his  sense  of  sight.  To  know  the  orange  he 
must  taste  it  as  well.  It  is  absurd  for  a  man  to  say 
that  he  can  know  the  beauty  of  a  sunset  by  mere  log- 
ical process.  Unless  he  has  an  aesthetic  sense  he  can 
never  see  beauty  or  know  beauty,  for  seeing  beauty 
depends  on  a  love  for  the  beautiful.  You  cannot 
really  appreciate  a  noble  character  without  having  a 
love  for  goodness.  The  power  of  seeing  the  morally 
right  depends  on  having  a  love  for  the  morally  right. 
Sapientia,  wisdom,  is  derived  from  sapere,  to  taste. 
"Oh  taste  and  see  that  Jehovah  is  good!"  With- 
out having  a  taste  for  truth  you  cannot  know 
the  truth.  And  so  you  cannot  know  God  without 
loving  God.  "  The  pure  in  heart,"  they,  and  they 
only,  "  shall  see  God."  Pascal  said  truly  that  human 
things  need  only  to  be  known  in  order  to  be  loved, 
but  divine  things  must  first  be  loved  in  order  to  be 
known.  Therefore,  you  can  place  no  dependence 
whatever  on  the  religious  opinions  of  an  ungodly  man. 


264  MISCELLANIES 

The  absence  of  love  to  God  will  vitiate  all  his  con- 
clusions with  respect  to  God. 

A  few  years  ago  a  piece  of  plastering  fell  from  the 
wall  of  the  refectory  in  an  Italian  convent,  and  revealed 
the  existence  of  a  fresco  painting  which  successive  coats 
of  whitewash  had  hidden  for  centuries.  With  infinite 
pains  the  whitewash  was  scaled  off  and  a  magnificent 
picture  of  one  of  the  old  masters  stood  in  full  view. 
The  picture  showed  marvelous  resemblance  to  the  style 
■  of  Raphael,  and  all  Italy  was  excited  by  the  dispute  as 
to  whether  he  or  some  other  was  the  painter.  Now, 
there  were  two  classes  of  evidence :  First,  the  exter- 
nal:  the  records  of  the  convent,  the  life  of  Raphael, 
the  painter's  marks  upon  the  picture;  of  these  every 
one  could  judge.  But  there  was,  secondly,  another 
kind  of  evidence — the  internal — the  tone  and  spirit  of 
the  painting,  the  style  and  expression  of  the  whole — 
of  this  only  those  could  judge  who  knew  and  loved 
the  works  of  Raphael.  There  were  hundreds  and 
thousands  utterly  destitute  of  the  fine  artistic  sense 
which  alone  could  qualify  them  for  judges;  there  were 
other  hundreds  and  thousands  who  with  all  neces- 
sary natural  susceptibility  had  never  imbued  them- 
selves with  Raphael's  spirit  enough  to  recognize  his 
work  when  they  saw  it.  The  best  judges  and  the 
only  competent  judges  were  found  to  be  those  who 
for  years  had  sat  before  Raphael's  pictures,  striving 
lovingly  to  copy  them.  Every  trait  of  the  great 
painter's  style  had  reproduced  itself  in  their  minds, 
and  they  could  recognize  his  pictures  at  the  first  glance 
of  the  eye.  Now,  the  truth  of  God  can  be  recognized 
only  in  the  same  way.     There  is  a  heart  knowledge 


OBEDIENCE    BEFORE    KNOWLEDGE  265 

which  only  a  copying  of  the  truth  in  our  Hves  can 
ever  give.  This  demand  that  we  obey  in  order  that 
we  may  know,  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  dec- 
laration of  a  universal  law  of  the  human  mind.  The 
correctness  of  our  judgment  with  regard  to  the  nature 
and  will  of  God  depends  on  the  diligence  with  which 
we  have  endeavored  to  imitate  and  obey  him. 

Let  us  make  sure  that  we  get  the  full  meaning  of 
the  text.  It  does  not  say  that  a  course  of  merely 
outward  and  formal  obedience  will  enable  us  to  under- 
stand God  and  his  plans,  still  less  does  it  say  that 
without  perfection  of  obedience  there  can  be  no  knowl- 
edge of  God.  Our  translation  is  perhaps  responsible 
for  some  of  these  misapprehensions.  In  the  original 
the  word  "  will  "  is  much  stronger  than  it  appears  in 
our  version.  It  really  reads,  "  If  any  man  zvills  to  do 
his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine."  In  other 
words,  not  only  an  outward  obedience  is  needful ; 
there  must  also  be  a  right  attitude  of  heart  and  will, 
in  order  to  any  correct  knowledge  of  God  and  his 
truth.  Do  you  suppose  that  Judas  understood  Christ  ? 
Could  that  covetous  and  grasping  soul  have  any  con- 
ception of  that  wondrous  life  of  self-sacrifice  that 
was  unfolding  before  him?  No;  selfishness  cannot 
comprehend  unselfishness,  falsehood  cannot  compre- 
hend truth,  impurity  cannot  comprehend  purity. 
Nay,  it  denies  the  very  existence  of  that  which  is  its 
opposite,  and  declares  that  its  own  baseness  must  be 
in  every  other  soul.  Christianity  is  a  mystery  to  the 
world.  How  many  worldly  people,  in  their  secret 
hearts,  doubt  whether  there  is  any  reality  underneath 
all  this  profession.     As  Cicero  said  once,  "  The  eye 


266  MISCELLANIES 

sees  only  that  which  it  brings  with  it  the  power  of 
seeing."  The  Scripture  says,  "As  a  man  thinketh, 
so  is  he."  It  is  just  as  true  that  as  a  man  is,  so  he 
thinketh.  Before  seeing  must  come  being.  A  man 
cannot  know  God  except  by  being  Hke  God  and  hav- 
ing his  will  set  to  do  the  will  of  God.  Suppose  a 
father  has  two  sons:  One  is  dutiful  and  obedient,  the 
other  perverse  and  ungrateful ;  one  loves  and  con- 
fides in  his  father,  the  other  longs  to  escape  from  his 
eye  and  control;  one  is  watchful  for  every  oppor- 
tunity of  humble  and  unnoticed  service,  the  other 
proudly  declares  himself  to  be  his  own  master.  The 
father  is  a  man  of  broad  views  and  liberal  heart, 
forming  plans  of  enlarged  benevolence,  and  using  his 
wealth  with  wise  foresight  of  others'  needs.  Tell 
me  which  of  these  sons  will  understand  that  father 
and  comprehend  his  plans,  the  son  whose  whole  spirit 
is  that  of  narrow  selfishness  and  disobedience,  or  the 
son  whose  soul  is  knit  to  the  paternal  heart  by  long- 
continued  sympathy  and  service?  Who  does  not  see 
that  the  spirit  of  childlike  obedience  can  alone  enable 
us  to  enter  into  the  mind  and  will  of  God? 

And,  on  the  other  hand,  how  common  it  is  to  see 
men  whose  practical  disobedience  so  warps  the  judg- 
ment as  to  neutralize  all  evidence  brought  to  enlighten 
them,  and  lead  them  in  spite  of  it  to  most  perverse 
and  reckless  conclusions.  Aristotle,  heathen  as  he 
was,  could  say  that  the  power  of  attaining  moral 
truth  is  dependent  on  our  acting  rightly.  It  is  just 
as  true  that  acting  wrongly  blinds  the  soul  to  truth. 
Refusing  to  use  the  light  given  to  us,  we  find  that 
less  and  less  light  is  given ;  like  a  neglected  lamp,  con- 


OBEDIENCE    BEFORE    KNOWLEDGE  267 

science  burns  dimmer  and  dimmer  every  day.  What 
else  can  explain  the  monstrous  blunders  of  Napoleon? 
Any  man  conversant  with  European  history  could 
have  told  him  that  to  fuse  heterogeneous  nationalities 
into  one  and  repeat  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  em- 
pires of  Assyria  or  Rome  was  as  foolish  an  attempt 
as  to  escape  the  attraction  of  the  earth  and  leap  to  the 
planet  Jupiter.  Yet  Napoleon's  mighty  intellect  did 
not  preserve  him  from  dashing  his  head  against  that 
stone  wall  of  nature's  laws,  and  shattering  it  in  the 
concussion.  What  else  can  explain  the  enormous 
folly  of  the  naturalism  of  our  day,  finding  in  the  ani- 
malcul?e  of  every  drop  of  stagnant  water  agencies 
for  the  consumption  and  removal  of  its  decaying  and 
unhealthful  elements,  agencies  which  exhibit  proofs 
of  design  as  marvelous  as  those  displayed  in  the 
compensating  balance  of  the  great  celestial  mechan- 
ism above  us,  yet  declaring  in  the  next  breath  that 
blind  force  is  the  only  ruler  of  the  universe  and  that 
there  is  no  God  besides?  Mere  intellect  will  not  keep 
men  from  stupendous  error.  An  unsubmissive  heart 
can  blind  the  reason  to  a  whole  world  of  evidence. 
A  wicked  man  may  become  most  credulous  of  false- 
hood, until  at  last  he  can  believe  all  the  despicable 
slanders  of  Tom  Paine  or  all  the  senseless  mum- 
meries of  Rome,  or  all  the  vagaries  of  theosophy, 
while  at  the  same  time  he  treads  under  his  feet  as 
beneath  contempt,  the  simple  gospel  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

We  have  seen  that  only  the  obedient  spirit  is  will- 
ing to  learn  the  truth  and  that  only  the  obedient  spirit 
furnishes   the   proper   medium   of   insight   into   truth. 


268  MISCELLANIES 

Consider  now,  in  the  third  place,  that  only  the  obedi- 
ent spirit  is  capable  of  recognizing  the  truth  in  its 
essential  nature  as  personal.  For  truth  is  not  an  ab- 
straction, but  a  person.  God  is  truth  and  truth  is 
God.  Why  do  two  and  two  make  four?  Why  are 
all  the  radii  of  a  circle  equal  to  each  other?  Why 
is  virtue  praiseworthy  and  vice  condemnable  ?  Simply 
because  all  these  statements  reflect  and  represent  eter- 
nal facts  in  the  being  of  God,  and  are  themselves 
revelations  of  God.  What  we  call  separate  truths 
are  only  partial  manifestations  of  the  God  whose 
nature  is  truth  and  are  no  more  to  be  comprehended 
in  their  isolation  than  a  section  of  telegraph  wire  is 
to  be  comprehended  aside  from  its  relation  to  the  cir- 
cuit of  which  it  forms  a  part  and  the  pulsating  elec- 
tric force  which  makes  it  throb  with  life  and  intelli- 
gence. A  piece  of  coal  is  a  mere  dead  and  insig- 
nificant thing  until  you  regard  it  as  a  relic  of  carbon- 
iferous forests  and  as  having  a  relation  to  the  pre- 
historic sun  that  made  those  forests  grow.  And  so 
any  given  truth  in  mathematics  or  in  mind  is  falsely 
seen,  until  it  is  seen  as  related  to  God  from  whom  it 
sprang.  The  scattered  rays  are  comprehensible  only 
when  they  are  regarded  as  parts  of  one  whole  and  as 
proceeding  from  one  original  and  eternal  sun  of  truth 
and  righteousness. 

And  here  we  see  the  relation  of  truth  to  Christ. 
Christ  is  the  truth  in  manifestation,  even  as  God  is 
the  truth  manifested.  He  is  the  way  and  the  truth,  as 
well  as  the  life.  He  is  the  truth  and  the  only  truth, 
because  he  is  the  only  revealer  of  God.  In  him  and 
through  him  the  whole  physical  and  mental  and  spir- 


OBEDIENCE    BEFORE    KNOWLEDGE  269 

itual  universe  consists,  or  holds  together,  even  as  he 
is  the  creative  power  through  whom _it  was  fashiojied, 
and  the  end  for  which  it  was  made.  He  is  the  hght 
that  Hghteth  every  man,  Jew  or  Gentile,  heathen  or 
Christian.  Every  ray  that  ever  illuminated  the 
world's  darkness  even  before  he  came  in  the  flesh  pro- 
ceeded from  him,  even  though  the  light  shined  in 
darkness  and  the  darkness  comprehended  it  not.  And 
so  to  stand  for  Christ  and  obey  Christ  is  to  stand  for 
the  truth  and  obey  the  truth,  and  to  deny  Christ  is  to 
deny  the  truth. 

Truth,  then,  is  personal,  and  we  cannot  attain  the 
truth  without  coming  into  proper  relations  to  God 
who  is  the  truth  and  to  Christ  in  whom  alone  that 
truth  is  revealed.  And  what  are  these  proper  rela- 
tions? They  are  the  relations  of  the  creature  to  the 
Creator;  of  the  sinner  to  the  Lawgiver  whose  law  he 
has  violated ;  of  the  believer  to  the  Saviour  who  has 
died  to  redeem  him.  But  here  is  required  confes- 
sion of  weakness  and  sin ;  here  are  required  humility 
and  submission  and  faith.  You  cannot  apprehend 
the  personal  truth  from  the  proper  point  of  view,  you 
cannot  rightly  apprehend  it  at  all,  unless  you  come  to 
it  with  the  obedient  spirit.  To  come  to  it  in  the 
spirit  of  arrogant  and  haughty  self-sufficiency,  as  if 
you  needed  nothing  and  could  work  out  all  knowledge 
from  within,  is  to  render  it  impossible  to  attain  the 
truth.  You  can  know  the  truth  only  by  becoming  its 
servant ;  you  can  understand  Christ  only  by  following 
him;  you  can  apprehend  God  only  by  submitting  to 
God  in  his  appointed  way.  Remember  that  truth  is 
not  an  abstraction  but  a  person ;  that  you  can  know  the 


270  MISCELLANIES 

truth  only  by  knowing  God,  and  that  you  can  know 
God_only  by  accepting  and  obeying  the  revelation 
of  himself  in  Christ.  The  disciples  said  to  Christ : 
"  Show  us  the  Father  and  it  sufficeth  us."  They 
longed  for  some  demonstration  of  God's  power;  in 
their  folly  they  thought  that  God  was  mainly  power ; 
while  God  is  not  power,  but  holiness  and  love.  That 
holiness  and  love  had  been  before  their  eyes  for  months 
and  years.  How  sad  and  pitiful  are  Christ's  words: 
"  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet  hast 
thou  not  known  me?  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen 
the  Father."  Even  so  it  is.  Christ  is  the  truth  of  God, 
the  holiness  of  God,  the  love  of  God,  made  known  to 
men,  brought  down  to  our  human  comprehension  and 
engaged  in  the  work  of  our  salvation,  and  only  the 
obedient  spirit  can  bring  us  into  relations  to  this  re- 
vealed truth  of  God  such  that  we  shall  have  the  proper 
point  of  view  for  recognizing  it  in  its  essential  nature. 
"  I  am  the  light  of  the  world,"  says  Christ.  "  He  that 
followeth  after  me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but 
shall  have  the  light  of  life."  "  Take  my  yoke  upon 
you  and  learn  of  me." 

Only  the  obedient  spirit  is  willing  to  learn  the  truth ; 
furnishes  the  proper  medium  of  insight  into  the  truth; 
can  recognize  the  truth  in  its  essential  nature  as  a 
person. 

Notice  now,  finally,  that  only  the  obedient  spirit  can 
secure  for  us  as  persons  the  teaching  of  this  person 
zvho  is  the  truth.  Only  the  personal  Spirit  of  Christ, 
entering  into  the  inmost  depths  of  our  personal  spirits 
can  give  us  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  which  we  need. 
Truth  is  life  and  personality  outside  of  us;  it  needs 


OBEDIENCE    BEFORE    KNOWLEDGE  2/1 

to  become  life  and  personality  within  us.  Only  the 
Holy  Spirit  can  give  us  this  inward  teaching  of  the 
truth,  and  only  the  obedient  spirit  in  us  can  secure 
the  indwelling  and  illumination  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of 
God.  And  this  for  two  reasons:  First,  because  there 
is  much  of  the  Spirit's  teaching  which  in  the  nature  of 
things  cannot  be  given  except  to  a  receptive  and  sub- 
missive heart.  Mineralogists  tell  us  that  there  is  a 
crystal  called  tourmaline  that  has  the  peculiar  power  of 
polarizing  or  twisting  the  rays  of  light  that  pass 
through  it.  Let  a  second  crystal  of  tourmaline  be 
added  to  the  first  in  a  transverse  direction,  and  though 
each  taken  singly  is  transparent,  every  ray  of  light 
is  stopped  in  the  passage  through  the  two,  so  that,  in 
the  words  of  a  noted  chemist,  "  the  rays  of  the  merid- 
ian sun  cannot  pass  through  a  pair  of  crossed  tourma- 
lines " ;  the  two  crystals  shut  out  the  rays  as  perfectly 
as  the  closed  slats  of  your  window-blind  shut  out  the 
sun.  Turn  the  tourmalines  in  the  same  direction,  and 
they  are  transparent  to  the  light;  cross  them,  and  not 
a  ray  can  pass  through  them.  Now,  the  Spirit  of  God 
will  shine  into  human  souls  as  freely  and  bounteously 
as  the  sunlight,  provided  only  we  be  open  to  receive 
him.  "If  our  eye  be  single,  our  whole  body  shall  be 
full  of  light."  But  conscience  and  will  in  us  are  like 
those  tourmalines, — if  both  point  in  the  same  direction, 
God's  light  passes  through  and  enters  the  soul,  but  let 
the  will  be  set  in  a  direction  contrary  to  the  pointing  of 
conscience,  and  in  a  moment  the  light  of  God's  Spirit 
is  shut  out.  A  heart  opposed  to  the  will  of  God  and 
fully  set  in  it  to  do  evil  is  like  those  double  and  crossed 
tourmalines,  no  ray  of  gracious  heavenly  light  pene- 


272  MISCELLANIES 

trates  it  or  diminishes  in  the  least  its  natural  darkness. 
Unless  the  direction  of  that  will  be  changed  there  can 
be  no  revelation  to  it  of  God's  love.  Hardened  as  it  is 
against  love,  it  can  see  nothing  in  God  but  law  and 
terror,  and  it  needs  no  work  of  the  Spirit  to  see  that. 
There  is  a  large  proportion  of  God's  truth  which  can- 
not in  the  very  nature  of  things  be  revealed,  except  to 
the  humble  and  obedient  heart.  But  more  than  this : 
not  merely  the  nature  of  things  prevents  the  disobe- 
dient from  being  taught  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  there 
is  a  judicial  forsaking  of  those  that  will  not  obey  the 
truth.  The  Spirit,  whose  persevering  and  long-con- 
tinued efforts  to  enlighten  and  save  have  only  been 
despised  and  rejected,  leaves  the  soul  at  last  to  its  own 
devices.  And  this  is  what  is  meant  when  the  apostle 
says  that  "  for  this  cause  God  shall  send  them  strong 
delusion  that  they  might  believe  a  lie,  that  they  all 
might  be  damrjed  who  believed  not  the  truth  but 
had  pleasure  in  unrighteousness."  God  in  his  right- 
eous anger  forsakes  the  soul  that  will  not  do  his  will, 
and  thenceforth  there  is  nothing  before  it  but  delu- 
sion and  damnation.  Thus  "  the  secret  of  the  Lord  is 
with  them  only  who  fear  him,  and  he  will  show  them 
his  covenant."  "  Be  not,  therefore,  conformed  to  this 
world,  but  be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your 
minds,  in  order  that  ye  may  prove  what  is  that  good 
and  acceptable  and  perfect  will  of  God."  Be  sure, 
my  friends,  that  no  man  ever  yet  put  himself  under  the 
direction  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  without  being  led 
into  all  truth  and  duty,  as  the  star  led  those  wise  men 
of  old  to  the  cradle  of  the  Saviour  and  the  humble 
worship  of  the  Son  of  God. 


OBEDIENCE    BEFORE    KNOWLEDGE  2/3 

A  single  illustration :  Years  ago  there  lived  in  an 
Eastern  city  a  physician  of  eminence,  whose  practice 
among  the  sick  and  friendless  had  taught  him  much 
with  regard  to  the  misery  of  the  world.  He  was  con- 
stitutionally a  doubter,  and  his  doubts  centered  upon 
the  person  and  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  saw  no 
other  religion  worthy  of  confidence  than  Christ's,  but 
Christ's  he  could  not  accept.  He  could  see  the  bless- 
ing of  Christ's  friendship  and  undertaking  of  one's 
burdens,  but  the  possibility  of  it  all  he  could  not  see. 
So  he  wandered  on  in  the  dark,  without  prayer  and 
without  peace,  the  spiritual  opportunities  and  respon- 
sibilities of  his  profession  burdening  his  conscience 
more  and  more,  but  his  speculative  difficulties  growing 
thicker  every  moment.  One  day  he  met  a  minister 
of  the  gospel,  in  whom  he  had  confidence,  and  with 
the  first  word  began  to  pour  forth  his  own  heart.  "  T 
had  the  most  painful  struggle  of  my  life  this  morn- 
ing." "Ah,  how  so?  "  "  I  was  attending  upon  a  poor 
woman  who  has  but  a  few  hours  to  live,  but  her  soul 
seemed  in  worse  case  than  her  body.  It  seemed  to  me 
that  such  a  Saviour  and  friend  as  you  believe  Christ 
to  be  was  just  the  Saviour  and  friend  she  needed ;  if 
I  had  only  believed  as  you  do,  it  would  have  been  an 
unspeakable  blessing  to  have  knelt  by  her  bedside  and 
commended  her  to  his  mercy."  "  My  friend,"  said  the 
clergyman,  "  go  at  once  and  obey  that  impulse ;  what- 
ever Christ  may  be,  he  is  certainly  as  compassionate 
as  he  was  when  on  earth  and  as  able  to  help  now  as 
he  was  to  heal  the  sick  and  hear  the  beggar's  cry." 
The  resolve  was  formed ;  the  physician  made  his  way 
once  more  to  the  sick-room ;  he  knelt  for  the  first  time 
s 


274  MISCELLANIES 

in  prayer  for  another.  He  prayed  Christ  to  teach  her 
soul  the  way  to  God;  but  as  he  prayed  Christ  taught 
his  soul  the  way  to  God  also,  and  the  peace  of  God 
that  passeth  all  understanding  streamed  down  into  his 
heart.  The  one  act  of  obedience  had  opened  the  way 
for  Christ  to  enter,  and  with  an  inward  experience 
of  his  power  to  forgive  sins  and  renew  the  heart,  he 
could  doubt  no  longer  as  to  his  divinity,  but  bowed 
at  his  feet  like  Thomas,  crying :  "  My  Lord  and  my 
God!" 

We  all  need  a  heavenly  teacher,  for  we  are  all  chil- 
dren groping  in  the  dark.  We  must  follow  something. 
Shall  it  be  our  own  reason  or  the  opinions  of  men, 
or  shall  it  be  the  lead  of  Jesus  ?  I  fancy  that  if  he  were 
here  in  visible  form,  the  calm  wisdom  of  heaven  shi- 
ning in  his  brow  and  the  sympathy  and  compassion 
of  a  God  beaming  in  his  eye,  not  one  of  us  would 
hesitate  to  put  our  hand  in  his  and  say,  "  O  Saviour, 
be  my  teacher  and  my  guide  in  these  matters  that  so 
puzzle  my  reason  and  try  my  faith."  But  Christ  is 
just  as  really  here  as  if  we  could  see  him,  and  he  is 
willing  to  accept  the  charge  of  our  souls.  He  is  the 
Light  of  the  world.  If  we  follow  him  we  shall  not 
walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light  of  life.  Our 
wisdom  is  to  obey  him  implicitly,  expecting  that  what 
we  know  not  now  we  shall  know  hereafter.  The 
herdsman  in  the  Alps,  removing  his  family  to  the  pas- 
tures above  the  glaciers,  must  sometimes,  as  he  crosses 
the  treacherous  banks  of  snow,  separate  his  children 
from  him  and  forbid  them  to  approach  too  near,  lest 
their  combined  weight  prove  too  great  for  the  thin 
crust  to  sustain,  and  they  be  precipitated  into  fathom- 


OBEDIENCE    BEFORE    KNOWLEDGE  2/5 

less  abysses  below.  The  little  children  wonder  that 
father  will  not  let  them  come  near  him.  Most  of  all 
they  wonder  when  he  protects  them  from  the  fierce 
cold  of  a  night  upon  the  glacier  by  piling  snow  upon 
them  and  leaving  them  only  the  smallest  aperture 
to  breathe.  Strange  treatment;  yet  a  father's  love 
prompts  it  and  it  is  the  only  way  to  save  them.  Is 
it  not  folly  and  madness  for  the  children  to  refuse 
obedience  because  they  cannot  understand  the  reasons 
for  the  father's  conduct?  And  is  it  anything  but 
weakness  and  foolishness  in  us  to  withhold  our  obe- 
dience from  God's  plain  commands,  because  forsooth 
we  cannot  understand  the  reason  for  them?  Obey 
God,  and  we  shall  sooner  or  later  know;  disobey  him, 
and  we  shall  add  to  the  misery  of  our  ignorance  the 
greater  misery  of  self-destruction. 

Some  of  you,  my  hearers,  plead  in  extenuation  of 
your  disobedience  the  fact  that  there  are  things  you 
cannot  understand.  But  disobedience  is  not  the  ef- 
fect of  ignorance,  but  the  cause.  The  law  of  nature 
is  heart  first,  intellect  afterward;  submission  first, 
knowledge  afterward.  You  have  made  no  progress 
in  the  solution  of  the  mysteries  by  delaying  to  obey, 
and  you  never  will  make  progress  in  knowledge  of 
God's  truth  until  you  obey  the  truth.  How  will  you 
ever  get  more  light  without  using  the  light  you  have 
already?  Ah,  it  is  not  knowledge  you  need,  but  those 
neglected  duties  of  secret  and  family  prayer,  of 
public  confession  of  the  name  of  Christ,  of  inward 
consecration  to  the  service  of  God — these  are  the 
things  you  need  to  perform.  Not  knowledge,  but  a 
heart  set  to  do  the  will  of  God,  is  what  is  lacking. 


276  MISCELLANIES 

Oh,  that  God  would  give  you  such  a  heart  to-day — 
a  heart  humble,  reverent,  loving,  obedient  to  God! 
With  such  a  heart  within  you,  you  would  learn  in  a 
single  hour  more  of  God's  holiness,  of  your  own  sin, 
of  Christ's  mercy,  of  the  Spirit's  power,  than  you  ever 
learned  in  all  your  life  before.  Obedience  to  God,  that 
is  the  key  and  the  only  key  to  the  mysteries  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine  and  of  Christian  duty.  Take  that  key, 
I  pray  you,  and  enter  into  true  knowledge  and  eternal 
life! 


XXXVIII 
THE  GENEALOGY  OF  JESUS  ' 

The  book  of  the  generation  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  son  of  David, 
the  son  of  Abraham.     (Matt,   i :  i.) 

There  was  once  a  time  when  the  desert  of  Sahara 
was  thought  to  be  a  most  uninteresting  subject  to 
study.  If  we  had  been  asked  to  describe  it,  we  should 
have  called  it  a  vast  flat  region  of  drought  and  desola- 
tion, where  scorching  winds  roll  on  mile  after  mile 
their  blinding  clouds  of  ever-moving  sand,  where  every 
living  thing  dies  for  want  of  water  and  of  food,  and 
where  the  curse  of  the  Almighty  seems  to  rest  forever. 
But  modern  investigation  and  explorations  are  chan- 
ging all  our  old  notions  with  regard  to  this.  Barth  and 
Rohlfs  have  shown  that  what  was  thought  to  be  a  level 
plain  of  sand  is  wonderfully  diversified  in  surface. 
The  great  elevated  plateau  rises  often  into  mountains 
three  thousand  to  five  thousand  feet  in  height,  breaking 
into  huge  cliffs  and  bounded  by  gigantic  walls  of  rock. 
There  are  fields  of  naked  rock  where  for  a  hundred 
miles  not  a  grain  of  sand  is  to  be  seen,  and  again 
there  are  waste  regions  where  marine  shells  of  recent 
species,  countless  in  number,  show  that  at  no  remote 
geologic  epoch,  the  plains  formed  the  bed  of  the  ocean, 
or  where  the  whole  surface  is  crusted  over  with  salt, 


1 A    sermon    preached    before    the    Ministers'    Institute,    Granville,    Ohio, 
July    :,    1870. 


278  MISCELLANIES 

as  if  some  old  Dead  Sea  had  once  left  its  deposits 
there.  There  are  magnificent  islands  of  verdure, 
where,  around  cool  springs  of  water  the  date  palm 
flourishes,  with  acacias  and  ferns,  and  the  exuberance 
of  animal  life  is  shown  in  birds  of  brilliant  plumage, 
in  the  graceful  form  of  the  gazelle,  and  the  strength 
and  majesty  of  the  lion.  Yet  there  are  wild  fastnesses 
of  the  hills,  where,  on  account  of  the  elevation  of  the 
country,  the  inhabitants  dress  for  a  large  part  of  the 
year  in  woolens.  In  places  where  the  sands  seem  most 
hostile  to  human  existence  you  may  sometimes  find, 
if  you  dig  deep  enough,  that  there  are  ruins  of  un- 
known cities  buried  beneath  your  feet,  and  evidences 
in  abundance  that  there  was  once  water  enough  to  sup- 
port them  and  is  water  enough  now,  if  it  were  only 
drawn  out  from  its  hiding-places.  And  if  you  study 
the  Sahara  Desert  long  enough,  you  may  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  by  drying  the  great  air-currents  that 
sweep  northward  over  the  Alps,  it  may  be,  in  spite 
of  its  apparent  uselessness,  doing  most  excellent  serv- 
ice in  protecting  the  whole  of  Europe  from  floods 
and  inundations  that  would  desolate  its  most  fruitful 
lands. 

There  are  certain  parts  of  Scripture  which  we  have 
been  accustomed  to  think  of  in  like  manner,  as  Sahara 
deserts  of  no  possible  interest  or  value.  We  often 
read  them  over  with  wonder  that  they  should  ever  be 
permitted  to  encumber  the  book  of  God.  Or,  it  may 
be,  we  omit  them  altogether,  hopeless  of  ever  com- 
prehending them  or  getting  good  out  of  them.  Now 
it  is  certain  that  the  wonders  of  the  Sahara  Desert 
would  never  have  been  known  without  persevering  and 


THE    GENEALOGY    OF    JESUS  279 

enterprising  search.  Those  adventurous  spirits  who 
encountered  unnumbered  dangers  in  exploring  it  were 
inspired  continually  by  the  conviction  that  God  could 
not  have  made  a  region  three  thousand  miles  in  length 
by  one  thousand  miles  in  breadth,  and  made  it  all  in 
vain.  They  believed  that,  if  they  kept  on  in  their  search, 
they  would  find  traces  of  his  hand  and  evidences  of 
his  wisdom.  If  they  had  such  confidence  with  regard 
to  the  book  of  nature  shall  we  be  less  confident  with 
regard  to  the  seemingly  waste  regions  of  the  book  of 
revelation  ?  Shall  we  not  expect  that  every  new  inves- 
tigation of  its  contents  will  teach  us  more  of  its  author, 
even  when  the  investigation  is  spent  on  parts  that  at 
first  baffle  our  comprehension?  Let  me  tell  you  a 
secret.  The  hidden  meaning  of  Scripture  sometimes 
refuses  to  reveal  itself  until  we  become  perfectly  famil- 
iar with  the  letter  of  it.  Some  poetry  is  obscure,  be- 
cause the  meaning  resides  in  the  rhythm  and  propor- 
tion of  the  verse  quite  as  much  as  In  the  bare  words; 
the  indefinable  delicacy  of  the  sense  cannot  be  at  all 
apprehended  until  the  words  become  to  our  ears  famil- 
iar as  an  oft-told  tale;  then,  at  some  moment  of  half- 
despair  at  ever  fully  understanding  our  author,  the 
subtle  and  shadowy  thought  dawns  upon  us  and  we 
recognize  creative  power  and  genius  where  we  saw 
none  before.  So  there  are  passages  of  Scripture  which 
we  may  read  ninety  and  nine  times  and  have  a  very 
dim  conception  of  their  meaning.  The  reading  is  not 
on  that  account  in  vain;  the  hundredth  effort  is  re- 
warded by  a  sudden  flash  of  light  that  makes  its  inner 
significance  and  its  connections  with  other  Scripture 
perfectly  plain  and  intensely  satisfying;  but  without 


28o  MISCELLANIES 

the  familiarity  which  the  ninety  and  nine  apparently 
unsuccessful  readings  had  given,  we  should  not  have 
been  able  to  reap  the  benefit  of  the  hundredth.  So 
God  has  made  spiritual  food  like  earthly  food  to  come 
to  us  only  as  the  result  of  effort  and  persistent  toil. 
We  must  eat  our  bread  here  too,  in  the  sweat  of  our 
brow. 

I  wish  to  lead  you  to-day  into  one  of  these  so-called 
deserts  of  Scripture,  and  after  we  get  far  away  from 
anything  known  or  of  common  interest,  I  wish  to 
point  out  to  you  the  gold  that  peeps  out  of  the  angles 
of  the  hard  quartz  rocks,  the  moisture  and  refreshing 
coolness  that  underlie  the  dry  level  of  hot  sand,  the 
oases  of  greenness,  the  sublime  architecture  of  the 
mountains,  the  presence,  if  we  only  notice  it,  of  a 
living  human  interest  even  in  these  fancied  scenes 
of  desolation,  and  the  far-reaching  and  inseparable 
connections  of  these  despised  regions  of  the  Bible 
with  others  of  which  we  think  so  much  more  highly. 
I  take  you  into  the  very  midst  of  that  genealogy  at 
the  beginning  of  the  New  Testament  in  which  we  read 
that  Abraham  begat  Isaac  and  Isaac  begat  Jacob  and 
Jacob  begat  Judas  and  his  brethren  and  Judas  begat 
Pharez  and  Zara  of  Thamar  and  Pharez  begat  Ezrom 
and  Ezrom  begat  Aram  and  Aram  begat  Aminadab, 
and  so  on  for  many  verses  more.  "  Is  all  this  of  any 
use  to  mankind?"  you  say.  "Can  this  be  a  part  of 
the  book  of  inspiration?  Can  I  ever  hope  to  make  it 
of  practical  benefit  to  me  ?  "  To  all  of  which  I  answer : 
"  I  certainly  think  so.    Let  us  see." 

It  is  certain  that,  whether  we  think  much  of  geneal- 
ogies or  not,  many  nations  and  ages  have  had  a  pas- 


THE    GENEALOGY    OF    JESUS 


281 


sionate  fondness  for  them.  The  mingled  curiosity  and 
pride  which  lead  an  occasional  individual  in  our  own 
day  to  rummaging  old  records  and  conducting  ex- 
tensive correspondence  in  order  to  trace  back  the  line 
of  his  ancestors  to  some  ancient  worthy  who  came 
over  in  the  Mayflower  is  only  a  faint  illustration  of 
the  far  stronger  family  and  genealogical  instinct  of 
the  ancient  world.  The  Homeric  heroes  called  them- 
selves, not  by  their  own  names,  but  by  the  names  of 
such  and  such  renowned  warriors  whose  sons  they 
were,  and  the  earliest  Greek  histories  seem  to  have  been 
designed  mainly  to  preserve  the  records  of  family  and 
national  descent.  In  the  case  of  the  Jews  this  tend- 
ency was  heightened  by  several  peculiar  circum- 
stances. "  The  promise  of  the  land  of  Canaan  to  the 
seed  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  successively,  the 
exclusively  hereditary  priesthood  of  Aaron  with  its 
dignity  and  emoluments,  the  long  succession  of  kings 
in  the  line  of  David,  and  the  whole  division  and  occu- 
pation of  the  land  upon  genealogical  principles  by 
tribes,  families,  and  houses  of  fathers,  gave  a  deeper 
importance  to  the  science  of  genealogy  among  the 
Jews  than  in  any  other  nation." 

But  the  chief  reason  of  all  Is  one  which  I  have 
not  mentioned  yet.  This  was  that  the  whole  Jewish 
nation  was  looking  forward  to  the  coming  of  a  great 
deliverer,  who  should  at  once  be  prophet,  priest,  and 
king  of  Israel,  who  should  deliver  his  oppressed  peo- 
ple from  all  their  foes  and  set  up  a  kingdom  which 
should  fill  the  earth.  This  Monarch  and  Saviour  was 
to  come  in  the  direct  line  of  descent  from  certain 
of   the   ancient   kings   and    worthies.      Just   as   every 


282  MISCELLANIES 

family  nearly  related  to  the  reigning  houses  of  Eng- 
land or  Austria  or  France  preserves  its  family  his- 
tory with  the  utmost  care,  not  only  from  pride  in 
its  glorious  past,  but  from  the  constant  possibility 
that  some  unknown  contingency  of  the  future  may 
bring  a  son  of  its  own  upon  the  throne,  so  in  a 
thousand  Jewish  families  the  records  of  descent  were 
most  anxiously  treasured,  in  hope  that  from  its  stock 
might  spring  the  promised  King  of  Israel  and  Saviour 
of  the  world.  A  thousand  mothers  rejoiced  in  the  pros- 
pect of  offspring,  and  deemed  barrenness  an  unutter- 
able sorrow,  because  of  their  secret  hope  that  out  of 
the  number  of  their  children  God  might  raise  up  one  to 
sit  on  David's  throne. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  the  news  came  from  Eng- 
land that  a  property  valued  at  several  millions  of  dol- 
lars had  been  left  by  a  gentleman  deceased,  and  that 
the  only  heirs  were  distant  relatives  in  this  country. 
The  parties  interested  were  notified  to  present  their 
claims  and  the  proofs  of  their  being  next  of  kin. 
There  was  a  meeting  of  them,  but  alas,  there  were 
missing  links  in  the  line  of  evidence,  and  though  there 
was  strong  probability  of  their  being  the  real  heirs. 
the  neglect  of  some  John  or  Peter  Sykes  in  the  last 
century  had  deprived  them  of  the  means  of  proving  it. 
So  a  vigorous  search  was  instituted.  Every  Sykes 
throughout  the  country  was  written  to  and  questioned, 
till  out  of  the  dust  and  rubbish  of  some  old  chest  in 
an  out-of-the-way  village  among  the  coal  mines  of 
Pennsylvania  a  venerable  Bible  was  exhumed,  and 
there,  in  the  pages  between  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments was  a  family  record  that  supplied  all  the  missing 


THE    GENEALOGY    OF    JESUS  283 

links,  away  back  to  the  original  Sykes  in  whom  the 
line  of  the  present  claimants  and  the  line  of  the  last 
owner  of  those  millions  were  united.  The  musty  rec- 
ord, kept  with  an  English  exactness  and  care, — for 
such  exactness  and  care  have  not  yet  become  common 
in  young  America, — renders  certain  the  legal  succes- 
sion to  the  ownership  of  this  vast  fortune.  Now  there 
was  a  succession  of  infinitely  greater  value  and  dig- 
nity that  needed  to  be  proved  eighteen  hundred  years 
ago  in  Palestine.  A  man  arose  who  claimed  to  be  the 
personage  mentioned  in  the  promise  God  had  made  to 
Abraham  two  thousand  years  before — the  seed  in 
whom  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  were  to  be  blessed. 
He  claimed  also  to  be  the  heir  of  the  kingdom  and 
throne  of  David,  the  descendant  of  Abraham,  and 
so  to  be  the  rightful  inheritor  of  the  promise  con- 
firmed to  David  a  thousand  years  before.  This  claim- 
ant of  honors  so  exalted  was  none  other  than  Jesus, 
a  carpenter's  son,  from  Nazareth  in  Galilee.  He  did 
many  wonderful  works,  he  uttered  words  of  surpassing 
wisdom,  but  instead  of  having  or  gaining  an  earthly 
crown  or  scepter,  the  Jews  gave  him  the  cross  for  his 
throne,  and  for  his  palace  the  sepulcher  of  Joseph. 
And  yet  his  disciples  after  his  death  insisted  still  that 
he  was  the  Messiah  and  King  of  Israel,  that  he  had 
risen  from  the  dead,  and  that  he  was  now  seated  on  an 
eternal  throne  in  heaven.  The  first  question  that  a 
Jew  would  ask  would  be  about  the  ancestry  of  Jesus. 
All  other  proofs  would  be  impertinent  and  worthless, 
until  it  could  be  proved  that  Jesus  was  actually  in  the 
direct  line  of  succession  from  Abraham  and  David, 
the  founders  of  the  Jewish  nation  and  kingdom.    And 


284  MISCELLANIES 

SO  Matthew  begins  his  Gospel  with  a  family  record, 
and  the  first  words  are,  "  The  book  of  the  generation," 
or  genealogy,  "of  Jesus  Christ,  the  son  of  David,  the 
son  of  Abraham."  The  first  essential  fact  then,  with 
regard  to  this  curious  list  of  descent,  is  that  it  is  the 
family  record  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

But  did  the  Jews  have  family  Bibles  at  all  ?  Oh  no ! 
In  those  old  days  neither  pocket  Bibles  nor  family 
Bibles  had  yet  been  rendered  possible.  The  copy  of 
the  law  and  the  prophets  on  the  manuscript  rolls  of  the 
synagogue,  from  which  the  rabbi  read  every  Sabbath 
Day,  was  the  only  ordinary  source  of  knowledge  of 
God's  will ;  and  yet,  I  suppose  those  old  Hebrews  were 
not  so  badly  off,  they  carried  so  much  more  of  God's 
word  in  their  heads  and  hearts  than  many  of  us  do. 
I  sometimes  almost  wish  that  the  written  word  could  be 
taken  from  us  for  a  while,  that  we  might  form  the 
habit  of  pondering  more  deeply  what  we  do  hear,  and 
committing  it  to  our  memories  to  be  fixed  there  for- 
ever. It  is  certain  that  all  Eastern  nations  make  up 
in  great  degree  for  their  lack  of  printed  books  by  their 
wonderful  facility  of  acquiring,  and  accuracy  in  retain- 
ing, the  substance  and  form  of  oral  instruction.  This 
accounts  in  part,  although  the  special  agency  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  accounts  also  in  part,  for  the  extreme 
faithfulness  with  which  the  accounts  of  Christ's  words 
and  works  were  preserved  during  the  few  years  before 
they  were  committed  to  writing  in  our  present  Gos- 
pels. By  this  marvelous  power  of  memorizing  and 
retaining,  Jewish  families  kept  in  mind  their  own 
descent  and  recounted  what  were  often  "  endless  gene- 
alogies."    But  it  is  evident  that  these  mental  records 


THE    GENEALOGY    OF    JESUS  285 

were  valid  only  to  those  w-ho  kept  the  memory  of  them; 
they  could  serve  no  great  purpose  as  proofs  in  courts 
of  law  nor  in  the  decision  of  conflicting  claims  to  prop- 
erty. Security  against  fraud  could  only  be  obtained 
by  public  records,  and  private  recollection  was- of  value 
only  as  it  agreed  with  these.  And  there  is  no  end  of 
evidences  that  the  Jews  provided  for  the  keeping  and 
transmission  of  such  official  and  public  records  from 
generation  to  generation.  Josephus,  for  example,  after 
detailing  his  own  ancestry,  concludes  by  saying  that 
he  has  "  thus  traced  his  descent  as  he  has  found  it 
recorded  in  the  public  tables."  In  the  archives  of  the 
temple  at  Jerusalem  were  national  registers  in  which 
were  kept  accurate  lists  of  David's  and  Solomon's  de- 
scendants, while  at  the  headquarters  of  each  tribe,  as 
at  Bethlehem  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  the  records  of  that 
tribe  were  preserved.  These  tables  were  not  neces- 
sarily mere  records  of  natural  descent,  but  were  quite 
as  much  registers  of  inheritance,  serving  as  title-deeds 
of  the  family  possessions. 

The  second  essential  fact  with  regard  to  the  geneal- 
ogy of  Jesus  is  this  therefore — it  is  a  genealogy  tran- 
scribed from  public  registers  and  published  to  the 
contemporaries  of  Jesus  as  a  legal  document  whose 
authenticity  could  be  easily  ascertained  by  comparison 
with  the  sources  from  which  it  was  taken.  This  ex- 
plains too,  a  singular  feature  of  the  record  itself.  If 
you  notice  the  latter  part  of  it,  you  will  see  that  though 
Mary  was  the  real  parent  of  Jesus,  and  Joseph  was  not, 
still,  the  record  does  not  profess  to  be  the  record  of 
Mary's  ancestry,  but  that  of  Joseph.  The  fact  that  it 
was   transcribed    from   a   public   register   shows   why 


286  MISCELLANIES 

this  must  be  so.  Jesus  was  Joseph's  adopted  son  and 
as  such  was  entitled  to  succeed  him  in  all  his  legal 
rights.  In  the  public  records  Jesus  could  only  appear 
as  Joseph's  son.  It  was  a  rule  of  the  rabbis  that  descent 
on  the  father's  side  only  shall  be  called  a  descent — the 
descent  by  the  mother  is  not  called  any  descent.  As 
son  of  Mary  he  would  have  no  royal  rights,  although 
there  is  sufficient  evidence  that  Mary  was  a  lineal 
descendant  of  David  also.  Only  as  son  of  Joseph  was 
Jesus  heir  to  the  covenants  made  with  David  and  Abra- 
ham. 

A  third  fact  I  would  have  you  notice  is  that  this 
genealogy  is  not  a  record  of  natural  descent,  but  is  a 
register  of  the  royal  succession.  I  have  said  already 
that  these  tables  were  quite  as  often  records  of  inherit- 
ance as  lists  of  descent.  And  yet  the  ground  idea  of 
descent  regulated  the  form  of  the  record.  Thus  who- 
ever succeeded  to  the  inheritance,  though  he  belonged 
to  another  branch  of  the  family,  was  written  down 
under  the  last  owner  as  his  "  son,"  and  this  predeces- 
sor was  also  said  to  have  "  begotten  "  him.  Now 
Matthew's  Gospel  was  the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom; 
his  aim  is  to  present  Christ  to  the  Jews  as  the  King 
of  Israel  and  legal  successor  to  David's  throne.  His 
genealogy  therefore  gives  the  royal  pedigree,  not  the 
natural  pedigree  of  Jesus.  He  inserts  the  name  of 
Salathiel  as  the  son  of  Jechonias,  because  Salathiel  be- 
came heir  to  David's  throne  on  the  failure  of  Solo- 
mon's line  in  Jechonias,  although  the  genealogy  in 
Luke  tells  us  that  the  real  father  of  Salathiel  was  not 
Jechonias  but  Neri.  And  this  suggests  the  real  reason 
for  the  differences  between  the  genealogy  of  Jesus  with 


THE    GENEALOGY    OF    JESUS  287 

which  Matthew  hegins  his  Gospel  and  the  other  gene- 
alogy of  Jesus  which  we  find  in  the  third  chapter  of 
Luke.  Luke  gives  the  descent  of  Jesus  as  a  man, 
through  David's  son  Nathan.  Matthew  gives  Jesus' 
descent  from  David  as  a  king,  through  Solomon,  the 
heir  to  David's  throne.  By  intermarriage  and  adoption 
two  such  lines,  the  royal  and  the  natural,  might  easily 
at  one  time  coalesce  and  at  another  time  diverge  from 
each  other,  and  this  they  appear  to  have  done,  first  in 
Salathiel  and  afterward  in  Matthat  or  Matthan.  So 
the  lineal  descent  of  Henry  VIII  from  King  John 
may  be  traced  in  two  perfectly  distinct  lines,  contain- 
ing thirteen  links  in  the  one  case  and  eleven  in  the 
other,  and  they  do  not  touch  each  other  at  any  inter- 
mediate point.  On  the  other  side  the  descent  of  James 
I  from  Henry  VII,  also  traceable  in  two  lines,  con- 
joins fi\'e  successions  in  each  line,  and  the  five  succes- 
sions touch  at  two  points,  namely,  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots,  and  Margaret,  daughter  of  Henry  VII.  Thus 
the  descent  of  our  Lord  from  Abraham  by  two  lines 
which  converge  at  one  point  and  diverge  at  another  is 
entirely  consistent  with  known  experience  and  there- 
fore with  historic  credibility. 

This  genealogy  then  is  a  list  of  kings,  or  men  of 
royal  blood,  a  grander  list  than  ever  was  inscribed 
on  palace  walls,  because  they  were  the  royal  ancestors 
of  him  who  is  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  Even 
the  greatness  of  David  and  Solomon  consisted  mainly 
in  this,  that  they  were  links  in  the  chain  that  ended 
in  the  Messiah.  This  fact  seems  to  be  clearly  in  the 
mind  of  the  evangelist  as  he  transcribed  the  record. 
He  prefixes  to  it  the  title  "  the  book  of  the  generation," 


288  MISCELLANIES 

not  of  Jesus,  but  "  of  Jesus  Christ."  Have  you  ever 
thought  of  the  meaning  of  that  word  "  Christ"  ?  It 
is  not  a  proper  name  so  much  as  an  official  title.  Jesus 
is  the  real  name  of  our  Lord,  the  name  given  him  by 
his  parents.  But  "  Christ  "  like  the  word  "  Messiah  " 
means  "  the  anointed  one."  When  Victoria  was 
crowned  queen  of  England  there  was  a  splendid  as- 
sembly gathered  in  Westminster  Abbey.  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  the  highest  ecclesiastic  of  the 
kingdom,  acting  as  the  representative  of  the  established 
religion,  poured  upon  the  head  of  the  young  girl,  who 
was  so  soon  to  assume  the  burdens  of  the  scepter,  a 
few  drops  of  oil  from  a  golden  flask,  and  with  this 
anointing  offered  solemn  prayer.  What  was  the  mean- 
ing of  this  ceremony?  It  was  a  public  recognition  of 
the  fact  that  the  queen  in  the  discharge  of  her  great 
duties  must  be  endowed  with  special  grace  from  God. 
Oil  is  everywhere  in  Scripture  the  symbol  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  When  oil  was  poured  upon  the  head  of  the 
queen  at  her  coronation,  it  was  the  sign  of  the  pouring 
out  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  upon  her  to  qualify  her  for 
her  office.  Just  so  in  the  Old  Testament  times,  Sam- 
uel carried  a  horn  of  oil  to  Bethlehem  and  there 
anointed  David  to  be  king  over  Israel.  And  not  only 
kings,  but  prophets  and  priests  were  in  like  manner 
anointed  before  they  entered  upon  their  work,  in  token 
of  their  entire  dependence  upon  God  for  his  grace  and 
the  abundant  communication  of  God's  Spirit  to  them, 
to  fit  them  to  speak  in  his  name  and  to  serve  him  in  his 
sanctuary.  When  the  coming  of  the  Saviour  was  pre- 
dicted, therefore,  it  was  said  that  God  would  put  his 
Spirit  upon  him.     He  was  called  the  Messiah,  or  the 


THE   GENEALOGY    OF    JESUS  289 

Christ,  or  the  Anointed  One,  because  he  was  to  hold 
all  these  offices  of  prophet,  priest,  and  king,  and  be- 
cause, in  order  to  qualify  him  for  them,  God  should 
give  his  Spirit  without  measure  unto  him.  Observe 
now  how  Matthew,  who  presents  Jesus  as  the  Saviour 
promised  in  Old  Testament  Scripture,  begins  his 
Gospel  with  the  words  "  the  book  of  the  generation 
of  Jesus  Christ  " — joining  the  human  name  of  Jesus 
with  the  official  title  of  the  promised  Saviour,  a  con- 
junction never  attempted  in  the  lifetime  of  Jesus. 
What  does  he  mean  but  this,  that  Jesus  of  the  seed  of 
David,  though  he  is  descended  from  all  these  human 
ancestors,  is  notwithstanding  much  more  than  a  human 
Saviour ;  he  is  nothing  less  than  the  Messiah  on  whom 
the  fulness  of  God's  Spirit  was  to  rest,  the  promised 
prophet,  priest,  and  king  of  Israel,  the  completion  of  the 
Old  Testament  Economy,  the  personage  in  whom  all 
God's  historic  purposes  are  consummated  and  fulfilled. 
Thus  the  first  page  of  the  New  Testament  proclaims  on 
its  very  front  that  the  new  dispensation  is  no  sudden 
afterthought  of  God,  but  is  the  goal  and  fulfilment  to- 
ward which  the  whole  history  of  the  race  has  been 
tending.  The  genealogy  of  Jesus,  in  other  words,  points 
out  the  connection  of  the  New  Testament  with  the  Ohi. 
Let  me  recapitulate  now  the  four  essential  character- 
istics of  this  genealogy.  First,  it  is  a  family  record. 
Secondly,  it  is  a  record  transcribed  from  public  regis- 
ters. Thirdly,  it  is  a  record  of  the  royal  succession. 
Fourthly,  it  is  the  ancestral  record  of  One  to  whom 
these  ancient  generations  point,  and  in  whom  the  old 
dispensation  finds  its  fulfilment  and  its  end.  But  there 
are  practical  lessons  to  be  drawn  from  this  long  list  of 

T 


290  MISCELLANIES 

names,  which  will  take  it  out  from  the  rank  of  matters 
interesting  only  to  a  curious  mind  and  will  put  it  side 
by  side  with  other  scriptures  that  touch  and  move  our 
hearts. 

We  see  in  the  barren  record  the  proof  of  God's 
faithfulness.  Many  a  long  year  had  passed  since 
Abraham  had  received  the  promise  that  in  his  seed 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed.  He  kept 
on  waiting  and  watching  while  he  lived,  but  death 
darkened  his  eyes  twenty  centuries  before  the  promise 
was  fulfilled.  Now  and  then  through  those  twenty 
centuries,  some  time  of  unusual  prosperity  gave  hope 
to  God's  people  that  the  day  of  the  promised  blessing 
was  near  at  hand;  but  then  sin  had  broken  in  like  a 
flood,  and  the  times  of  prosperity  were  followed  by  the 
severest  judgments  and  the  deepest  humiliations.  The 
whole  nation  at  length  was  carried  away  captive  to 
Babylon.  The  kingdom  was  destroyed,  the  heirs  to 
the  throne  were  consigned  to  private  life;  when  Jesus 
came,  not  a  single  one  of  the  royal  line  had  sat  upon  a 
throne  for  six  hundred  years.  The  lineal  descendants 
of  King  David  became  poorer  and  obscurer,  indeed, 
as  they  approached  Christ ;  Joseph,  of  the  house  of 
David,  is  a  poor  carpenter  of  Nazareth,  and  Mary,  his 
wife,  is  so  pressed  with  poverty  that  she  must  bring 
forth  her  first-born  son  in  a  stable  and  lay  him  in  a 
manger,  and  afterward  offer  for  her  cleansing  not 
the  lamb  that  served  for  the  sacrifice  of  the  rich,  but 
the  two  turtle-doves  that  were  accepted  as  the  offering 
of  the  poor.  It  might  have  seemed  to  human  eyes 
that  God  had  utterly  forgotten  his  promise  and  that 
none  could  ever  rise  from  David's  posterity  to  sit  upon 


THE    GENEALOGY    OF    JESUS  2gi 

his  throne.  But  look  at  the  genealogy.  The  list  that 
begins  with  Abraham  and  the  kings  of  Israel,  but 
dwindles  down  at  length  into  successors  so  obscure 
that  we  know  nothing  of  them  but  their  names,  sud- 
denly bursts  out  into  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  King 
of  Israel  and  Saviour  of  the  world.  Out  of  the  fallen 
trunk  of  David's  house  there  springs  a  new  branch, 
and  in  Jesus  all  the  promises  to  David  and  to  Abraham 
are  fulfilled.  Let  the  impatient  and  unbelieving  heart, 
that  frets  and  despairs  because  prayer  is  not  yet  an- 
swered, and  God  delays  his  coming,  and  wickedness 
seems  to  prevail  and  the  promise  seems  to  slumber, 
let  that  heart  remember  that  "  one  day  is  with  the  Lord 
as  a  thousand  years  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day," 
that  "  man's  extremity  is  God's  opportunity,"  and  that 
though  our  faith  fail,  yet  "  God  abideth  faithful," 
and  wall  surely  show  his  faithfulness  at  last  by  fulfil- 
ling to  each  of  us  every  true  desire  and  petition  of  our 
hearts,  and  to  his  church,  that  glorious  promise  that 
"  the  kingdom  and  dominion  and  the  greatness  of  the 
kingdom  under  the  whole  heaven  shall  be  given  to 
the  people  of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  whose  king- 
dom is  an  everlasting  kingdom  and  all  dominions  shall 
serve  and  obey  him." 

Observe  too,  in  this  genealogy,  the  evidences  of 
God's  pozver.  It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  while  the  list 
embraces  many  patriarchs  and  heroes  of  the  faith,  it 
contains  also  the  names  of  wricked  kings,  like  Ahaz 
and  Manasseh,  one  of  whom  reached  the  climax  of 
depravity  and  idolatry  by  burning  his  own  son  in  dread- 
ful sacrifice  to  heathen  gods,  and  the  other  of  wdiom 
set  up  graven  images  in  the  very  house  of  God  and 


292  MISCELLANIES 

seduced  the  whole  nation  into  sin.  Not  simply  in  the 
line  of  heirship  to  the  throne,  but  among  the  natural 
ancestors  of  Jesus,  from  whom  his  human  blood  de- 
scended, we  have  the  names  of  women  to  which  the 
blackest  stains  of  sin  attached.  Not  only  do  we  read, 
"  Boaz  begat  Obed  of  Ruth,"  a  Gentile  by  birth,  but 
also,  "  Judas  begat  Pharez  and  Zara  of  Thamar,"  "  Sal- 
mon begat  Boaz  of  Rahab  "  and  "  David  begat  Solo- 
mon the  king  of  her  that  had  been  the  wife  of  Uriah." 
Here  are  Tamar  and  Rahab,  who  played  the  harlot, 
and  Bathsheba,  the  partner  of  David's  sin,  among 
the  list  of  ancestors  of  Jesus.  This  list  needed  only 
to  express  the  names  of  his  male  ancestors,  in  order  to 
make  it  complete  and  correct.  Why  is  it  that  these 
specimens  of  human  depravity  are  dragged  from  their 
hiding-places  in  the  long-forgotten  past  and  made  to 
take  their  place  among  the  lineal  ancestors  of  Jesus? 
Was  it  not  for  this  that  the  glory  of  the  line  should 
not  seem  to  be  the  line  itself  but  the  great  personage  in 
whom  it  ends?  Was  it  not  to  show  that  Jesus  owed 
nothing  of  his  sublime  elevation  above  common  hu- 
manity to  his  mere  natural  birth?  A  royal  and  sacred 
pedigree  did  not  confer  personal  holiness  or  prevent 
even  Abraham's  descendants  from  becoming  fearfully 
corrupt.  Look  at  this  genealogy  with  the  marks  of 
human  wickedness  scored  all  along  its  course,  and  then 
tell  me  if  it  did  not  require  the  new-creating  power 
of  God  and  the  fulness  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  bring 
from  this  tainted  human  nature  one  who  was  "  holy, 
guileless,  undefiled,  separated  from  sinners !  "  See  the 
names  that  figure  there,  Thamar,  Rahab,  Bathsheba, 
Ahaz,  Manasseh,  and  then,  last  of  all,  the  name  of 


THE    GENEALOGY    OF    JESUS  293 

"  Jesus  who  is  called  Christ,"  and  adore  the  wonders 
of  that  divine  power  that  can  bring  a  "  clean  thing  out 
of  an  unclean." 

Notice  too,  the  evidences  of  God's  order  here.  "  So 
all  the  generations  from  Abraham  to  David  are  four- 
teen generations;  and  from  David  until  the  carrying 
away  into  Babylon  are  fourteen  generations;  and  from 
the  carrying  away  into  Babylon  unto  Christ  are  four- 
teen generations."  Thus  reads  the  text — and  if  you 
count  them  up  you  will  see  that  the  generations  from 
Abraham  to  Christ  are  distributed  into  three  portions 
of  fourteen  each,  thus  dividing  them  into  the  genera- 
tions before,  during,  and  after  the  sitting  of  David's 
family  upon  the  throne.  "  It  was  common  among  the 
Jews  to  distribute  genealogies  into  divisions  containing 
some  mystical  number,  and  to  do  this  some  generations 
were  repeated  or  left  out."  Matthew  accordingly  omits 
after  Joram  (in  the  eighth  verse)  the  names  of  Aha- 
ziah,  Joash,  and  Amaziah  who  succeeded  him,  and 
there  are  doubtless  some  omissions  likewise  in  the  third 
division.  A  modern  pedigree  thus  broken  would  be 
defective,  but  it  was  not  so  with  the  genealogies  of 
the  Hebrews.  With  them  other  considerations  were 
more  important  than  the  mere  completeness  of  the  rec- 
ord, so  long  as  accuracy  was  preserved  as  far  as  the 
record  went.  And  accordingly  in  Old  Testament  gene- 
alogies, as  in  classical  usage,  we  find  not  seldom  that  a 
man  is  called  the  son  of  a  remote  ancestor,  though  not 
far  off  we  may  have  given  us  the  fullest  means  of  com- 
pleting the  record.  Some  suppose  these  divisions  of 
the  genealogy  to  have  been  arranged  for  the  sake  of 
aiding  the  memory;  others,  that  it  is  an  example  of 


294  MISCELLANIES 

the  Jewish  habit  of  mind,  which  dehghted  in  corre- 
spondences. Both  may  be  true,  yet  I  think  another  and 
a  higher  reason  prevailed  over  these  and  decided  the 
choice  of  the  method.  To  the  mind  of  the  evangeHst 
this  long  genealogy  was  no  barren  list  of  names;  every 
part  of  it  rather  was  instinct  to  him  with  life.  Not 
only  did  every  name  suggest  to  him  some  feature  of 
God's  dealings  with  his  people,  but  they  all  arranged 
themselves  in  order  and  harmony  among  themselves. 
Taking  the  history  of  the  Jews  before,  during,  and 
after  the  sitting  of  David's  family  upon  the  throne  as 
the  basis  of  the  arrangement,  he  set  them  all  in  separate 
portions  of  fourteen  each,  to  express  in  this  way  the 
sense  he  had  of  the  measured  periods  of  the  divine 
plans.  Each  of  these  three  epochs  of  their  national  his- 
tory, he  would  intimate  to  his  countrymen,  had  been 
meted  out  in  omniscient  wisdom  and  all  these  early  gen- 
erations had  been  set  in  order  as  steps  of  preparation 
for  the  coming  of  Christ.  From  the  very  beginning 
of  their  existence  as  a  nation  there  had  been  a  sym- 
metrical divine  plan  which  had  been  unfolding  in  per- 
fect order  and  beauty  from  age  to  age,  and  which 
now  had  revealed  its  full  grandeur  and  glory  in  the 
coming  and  work  of  Christ.  O  you  who  are  perplexed 
and  bewildered  by  the  mysteries  of  God's  dealings  in 
after  history  or  in  the  history  of  your  own  life,  who 
wonder  sometimes  whether  this  driving  hither  and 
thither,  this  falling  and  rising  again,  this  gaining  and 
losing,  this  apparently  senseless  and  objectless  whirl 
has  in  it  any  guiding  hand,  any  beneficent  order,  look 
at  this  genealogy,  think  of  the  generations  that  came 
and  wdnt,  wondering  for  what  they  were  made ;  think 


THE    GENEALOGY    OF    JESUS  295 

of  the  holy  souls  that  rose  and  struggled  and  died, 
groping  their  way  all  the  while  as  in  a  labyrinth  to 
which  they  had  no  clue,  and  see  how  after  all  is  past 
and  the  history  is  complete,  inspiration  can  arrange 
them  all  in  their  places  as  parts  of  a  symmetrical  and 
regular  design,  from  which  no  part  could  be  lacking 
without  endangering  the  whole!  Our  lives  are  like 
bits  of  stone  which  the  artist  grinds  and  fashions  for 
a  work  of  mosaic;  taken  by  themselves  they  have  but 
little  beauty  and  the  shape  of  them  is  very  puzzling 
to  the  observer;  but  when  put  in  their  places  among 
ten  thousand  others  and  polished  like  a  mirror  they 
form  a  part,  and  an  essential  part,  of  a  picture  whose 
skill  is  matchless  and  whose  beauty  is  beyond 
all  praise.  This  genealogy  of  Jesus  not  only  shows  us 
the  divine  order  with  which  the  all-wise  God  has 
wrought  out  his  historic  plan  of  the  ages  before  Christ, 
but  it  assures  us  also  that  when  eternity  shall  see  God's 
work  complete,  the  like  order  and  beauty  shall  appear 
in  the  providential  arrangements  that  now  most  try  our 
faith  and  fill  our  hearts  with  sorrow. 

Last  of  all,  we  see  in  this  genealogy  God's  testimony 
— his  testimony  to  the  greatness  of  Jesus  Christ,  his 
Son.  While  there  are  many  genealogies  in  the  Old 
Testament,  in  the  New  there  is  but  one,  and  that  is 
the  genealogy  of  Jesus.  The  old  principle  of  race  and 
family  and  heritage,  providentially  arranged  to  point 
the  world  forward  to  Christ,  has  lost  its  importance 
since  Jesus  came ;  in  him  all  Old  Testament  genealogies 
find  their  end,  beyond  him  it  is  impossible  to  go.  And 
what  a  genealogy  this  single  one  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment is!     How  narrow  and  brief  and  mean  compared 


296  MISCELLANIES 

with  this  are  the  Hsts  of  modern  times!  The  reigning 
houses  of  Europe  can  none  of  them  trace  back  their 
lineage  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  and  we  call  it 
an  old  family  that  can  tell  who  its  ancestors  were  even 
three  hundred  years  ago.  But  Matthew  traces  back 
the  lineage  of  Jesus  two  thousand  years  to  Abraham, 
and  Luke  does  not  stop  till  he  carries  it  step  by  step  to 
Adam,  the  father  of  the  race.  There  never  has  been 
and  there  never  can  be  again  another  such  record  in 
the  world.  The  Jews  have  no  such  genealogies  now. 
Even  if  their  belief  were  true  that  Messiah  is  yet  to 
come,  and  he  were  to  appear  to-day,  they  have  no 
means  of  identifying  him.  This  genealogy  was  pre- 
served until  the  heir  of  David's  throne  and  Abraham's 
blessing  actually  came,  and  then  all  the  national  regis- 
ters of  the  Jews  were  swept  away  in  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem.  The  genealogy  is  like  a  divine  finger 
pointing  to  Christ  as  a  unique  personage,  the  end  of  the 
old  and  the  beginning  of  the  new  dispensation,  true 
King  of  the  spiritual  Israel  and  the  only  Source  of 
blessing  and  salvation  for  the  race.  How  clearly  does 
it  show  that  "  God,  who  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers 
manners  spake  in  times  past  unto  the  fathers  by  the 
prophets  hath  in  these  last  days  spoken  unto  us  by 
his  Son."  Like  the  voice  heard  at  the  Mount  of  Trans- 
figuration when  Moses  and  Elias,  the  representatives 
of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  were  enshrouded  in  the 
cloud  and  rapt  from  the  apostles'  sight,  so  God's 
voice  seems  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  gospel  to  sound 
out  in  this  genealogy,  saying  to  us :  "  The  old  is  past 
forever,  the  day  has  dawned,  let  the  shadows  flee  away, 
this  is  my  beloved  Son,  hear  ye  him."    Yes,  the  geneal- 


THE    GENEALOGY    OF    JESUS  297 

ogy  has  a  voice  for  every  one  of  us,  whether  v^e  be 
children  of  God  or  not.  It  is  God's  testimony  to  all 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  grand  personage,  for  whose 
coming  all  the  ages  of  the  past  have  been  only  steps 
of  preparation,  and  in  whom  are  embodied  all  the  hopes 
of  the  world.  Aye,  it  is  God's  testimony  to  you,  O 
sinner,  that  Jesus  is  the  one  and  only  Saviour,  and  that 
there  is  "  no  other  name  given  under  heaven  among 
men  whereby  you  can  be  saved."  What  folly  to  think- 
that  you  can  lay  any  other  foundation  for  your  peace 
with  God  and  your  hope  of  heaven  than  this  one  foun- 
dation which  God  has  laid  in  Jesus  Christ!  Through 
all  these  ages  the  unfolding  of  this  great  plan  and 
development  of  this  redemption  has  occupied  the  mind 
of  God.  Can  it  be?  Can  it  be  that  what  had  been  so 
near  God's  heart  for  ages  should  have  no  interest  for 
you  ?  Does  not  this  testimony  of  God  demand  your  im- 
mediate and  implicit  trust?  Can  you  safely  refuse 
submission  to  this  kingdom  which  is  from  "  everlast- 
ing to  everlasting  "  ?  With  this  record  of  God  before 
you,  I  pray  you  at  once  to  take  Jesus  Christ  for  your 
Saviour  and  your  King.  How  will  you  escape,  oh, 
how  will  you  escape,  if  you  neglect  so  great  salvation  ? 


XXXIX 

CONFESSING  CHRIST ' 

Whosoever  therefore  shall  confess  me  before  men,  him  will 
I  confess  also  before  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven.  But  whoso- 
ever shall  deny  me  before  men,  him  will  I  also  deny  before  my 
Father  who  is  in  heaven.     (Matt.  10:32,  33-) 

In  the  parallel  passage  in  Luke  we  read :  "  Whoso- 
ever shall  confess  me  before  men,  him  shall  the  Son 
of  man  also  confess  before  the  angels  of  God ;  but  he 
that  denieth  me  before  men  shall  be  denied  before  the 
angels  of  God."  There  is  a  similar  passage  in  the  same 
evangelist  which  marks  more  definitely  the  time  at 
which  this  public  denial  shall  take  place :  "  For  who- 
soever shall  be  ashamed  of  me  and  of  my  words,  of 
him  shall  the  Son  of  man  be  ashamed  when  he  shall 
come  in  his  own  glory,  and  in  his  Father's  and  of  the 
holy  angels."  Comparing  these  passages  with  the  text 
I  think  we  cannot  doubt  that  Jesus  is  pointing  for- 
ward to  the  judgment  of  the  last  day.  It  is  plain  too, 
that  he  declares  himself  in  these  passages  to  be  the 
arbiter  of  human  destinies,  the  only  advocate  whose 
intercession  will  then  avail.  When  the  world  shall  be 
gathered  before  its  Judge,  his  single  word  shall  turn 
the  scale  of  life  and  death.  But  there  shall  be  nothing 
inequitable  in  his  decisions.    The  treatment  each  human 

'  A   sermon   preached   in   the   First  Baptist   Church,   Oswego,   N.    Y.,   Feb- 
ruary 4,    1900. 

298 


CONFESSING.  CHRIST  299 

soul  receives  from  Christ  in  that  great  day  of  account 
and  doom  shall  exactly  correspond  with  the  treatment 
Christ  has  received  from  him  here.  Whosoever  has 
confessed  Christ  before  men,  him  Christ  will  confess; 
whosoever  has  denied  Christ,   Christ  will   deny. 

We  naturally  ask,  first,  what  the  Saviour  means  by 
confessing  him.  What  has  been  said  already  prepares 
us  to  answer  that  it  cannot  mean  mere  confession  with 
the  lips,  although  confession  with  the  lips  is  included 
in  it.  The  Apostle  Paul  expressed  the  exact  truth  when 
he  said  :  "  If  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  believe  in  thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised 
him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved."  In  other 
words,  confession  is  necessary,  but  only  such  confession 
as  proceeds  from  true  faith  in  the  heart.  Observe  the 
wisdom  of  the  divine  requirements,  and  the  knowledge 
it  indicates  of  human  nature.  On  the  one  hand,  the 
outward  life  is  not  undervalued;  it  has  its  full  rights 
accorded  to  it.  Every  man  is  required  to  consecrate 
this  to  Christ  by  openly  avowing  him  as  his  Master  and 
Saviour.  But  then,  this  is  not  all;  the  inward  confes- 
sion and  allegiance  of  the  heart,  the  firm,  consistent, 
lifelong  siding  with  Jesus,  the  merging  of  our  own  in- 
terests in  his  interests  and  those  of  his  kingdom,  these 
are  things  that  are  of  greatest  importance,  and  without 
these  all  confessions  of  the  lips,  or  submission  to  out- 
ward ordinances,  are  worthless.  To  confess  Christ  then, 
is  nothing  less  than  to  connect  one's  self  indissolubly 
with  Christ  and  stand  for  him  in  life  and  death.  And 
so,  on  the  other  hand,  to  deny  Christ  is  not  simply  to 
deny  him  with  the  lips.  We  may  deny  him  outwardly 
in  the  family,  in  business,  in  society.     But  all  these 


300  MISCELLANIES 

outward  methods  may  be  only  symptomatic  of  a  great 
inward  denial — a  denial  of  the  heart.  As  our  whole 
life  may  be  a  confession,  so  too  our  whole  life  may  be  a 
denial,  of  our  Lord. 

But  just  here  arises  a  second  question:  What  is  the 
relation  between  the  confession  of  the  heart  and  the 
confession  of  the  lips?  I  answer  it  is  partly  a  relation 
of  cause  and  effect.  The  outward  confession  is  the 
necessary  and  inseparable  consequence  of  the  inward 
submission  and  allegiance  of  the  soul  to  Christ.  When 
the  fire  of  love  is  kindled  within,  it  cannot  help  shining 
out  and  witnessing  to  the  dear  name  of  Jesus.  A 
denying  heart  will  find  an  obstacle  to  confession  in 
every  circumstance  of  life,  and  simply  because  there 
is  nothing  in  it  to  confess;  it  knows  nothing  of  the 
grace  and  power  of  Christ.  A  confessing  heart,  on 
the  other  hand,  is  conscious  of  an  irresistible  move- 
ment toward  outward  acknowledgment  of  mercies  re- 
ceived ;  the  word  of  the  Lord  is  as  fire  shut  up  in  the 
bones.  Like  Peter  and  John,  it  cannot  but  speak  the 
things  it  has  seen  and  heard.  Li  one  of  the  dungeons 
of  the  Tower  of  London,  where  the  confessors  of  the 
true  faith  were  imprisoned  in  the  time  of  bloody  Mary, 
I  saw  an  inscription  cut  with  penknife  into  the  stone 
wall :  "  He  that  endureth  unto  the  end  shall  be  saved. 
Be  thou  faithful  unto  death  and  I  will  give  thee  a 
crown  of  life  ";  and  underneath  was  signed  the  name, 
"  T.  Fane."  Even  in  the  cell,  before  execution,  the 
friends  of  Christ  would  write  out  his  words  for  a  tes- 
timony to  those  who  should  come  after  them,  and  set 
to  their  seal  that  he  was  true.  I  thought  how  many 
in  the  history  of  Christ's  religion  have  confessed  their 


CONFESSING    CHRIST  3OI 

Lord  at  the  loss  of  all  things  earthly,  from  the  time 
when  Stephen,  the  first  martyr,  witnessed  for  his  Re- 
deemer, "  though  cursed  and  scorned  and  bruised  with 
stones,"  down  to  the  last  heathen  girl  who  is  dis- 
owned by  her  family  and  turned  out  of  house  and  home 
because  she  loves  the  Saviour.  The  true  faith  of 
Christ  is  a  faith  that  overcomes  the  world,  and  that 
cannot  be  true  faith  in  Christ  which  does  not  confess 
its  Saviour. 

The  relation  between  the  confession  of  the  lips  and 
the  confession  of  the  heart  is  partly  too,  a  relation 
of  means  and  end.  The  outward  confession  is  or- 
dained as  a  means  of  strengthening  the  inward  attach- 
ment of  the  soul  to  Christ.  There  is  an  assurance  and 
confidence  which  can  never  in  the  nature  of  things 
be  ours  until  we  confess  Christ  openly  before  men. 
The  trembling  faith  becomes  decided  and  strong  by 
making  it  known  to  others.  And  for  this  reason  the 
outward  confession  of  Christ's  name  ought  not  to  be 
postponed  till  we  have  reached  some  ideal  standard 
of  Christian  experience.  Christian  experience  can  be 
perfected  only  by  confession;  to  delay  confessing 
Christ  with  the  hope  of  being  better  prepared  is  only 
to  lose  what  confidence  we  have.  He  who  knows 
Christ  not  only  will  confess  him,  but  he  must  confess 
him,  if  he  would  hope  to  grow  in  his  attachment  and 
love  for  Christ.  See,  then,  the  profound  philosophy 
of  Christ's  appointments.  He  has  given  us  the 
church  and  its  ordinances,  not  simply  for  his  own 
sake,  but  for  our  sake,  as  a  means  of  expressing  and 
developing  the  life  of  God  in  our  souls.  The  public  pro- 
fession of  allegiance  to  him,  the  communion  of  saints, 


302  MISCELLANIES 

the  telling  to  others  of  onr  own  experiences  of  his 
gracious  dealings  are  necessary  helps  to  piety  and 
methods  of  perfecting  holiness.  And  then  the  work 
we  are  set  to  do  in  the  world,  the  inviting  of  our 
friends  and  neighbors  to  Christ,  the  testimony  we 
give  to  the  unconverted  of  the  worth  and  comfort  of 
religion,  the  witness  we  bear  to  Jesus'  power  to  for- 
give sins  and  save  the  soul,  all  these  are  Christ's  ways 
of  bringing  us  into  closer  union  with  himself  and  of 
making  vivid  and  clear  our  consciousness  of  his  pres- 
ence and  his  love. 

But  there  are  very  few  who  do  not  feel  at  times 
a  shrinking  from  this  duty  of  confessing  Christ.  We 
doubt  at  such  times  whether  we  have  any  gifts  for 
this  work.  And  this  leads  me  to  a  third  question: 
On  what  does  the  duty  of  confessing  Christ  rest? 
I  answer  not  on  any  ability  or  happy  faculty  we  pos- 
sess, but  on  what  Christ  has  done  for  us.  We  are 
not  to  look  at  ourselves.  We  are  to  expect  resist- 
ance there  to  every  good  impulse.  Just  so  long  as 
there  is  sin  remaining  in  us,  our  obedience  will  be 
fettered  and  hindered.  What  ought  to  be  as  natural 
and  spontaneous  as  the  flowing  of  a  stream  from 
the  fountain  will  be  viewed  as  duty.  The  very  word 
that  Christ  uses  implies  that  he  expects  us  to  meet 
this  opposition  and  to  overcome  it.  For  confession 
is  something  more  than  profession.  It  is  profession 
in  the  face  of  difficulty.  The  very  test  of  our  having 
the  life  of  Christ  in  us  is  the  fact  that  in  spite  of 
the  opposition  of  the  world  and  in  our  own  hearts 
we  do  confess  our  Redeemer.  And  this  duty  of  con- 
fession belongs  to  all,  because  Christ  has  ^iven  him- 


CONFESSING    CHRIST  3O3 

self  for  all.  When  Peter  the  Great  had  determined 
to  make  Russia  a  naval  power  in  Europe,  he  went 
into  the  shipyards  of  Holland  and  worked  with  his 
own  hands  that  he  might  learn  to  teach  his  country- 
men ;  and  that  humbling  of  himself  to  manual  toil 
for  the  sake  of  Russia  is  celebrated  by  monument  and 
song  throughout  the  empire.  What  monument  shall 
we  rear  in  our  hearts  and  lives  to  him  who,  being 
rich,  for  our  sakes  became  poor,  that  we,  through  his 
poverty,  might  be  made  rich?  Is  confession  of  his 
name  as  our  Lord  and  Master  and  the  consecration 
of  heart  and  life  to  his  service  any  too  great  a  return 
for  the  deliverance  he  has  wrought  for  us  at  the  cost 
of  his  humiliation  and  death  upon  the  cross? 

And  is  there  no  guilt  and  dishonor  in  refusing  thus 
to  acknowledge  him?  There  was  once  a  mother  who 
left  her  infant  daughter  sleeping  in  the  cradle  while 
she  w^ent  a  little  distance  upon  an  errand.  During 
her  absence  the  house  caught  fire  and  the  stairway 
was  wrapped  in  flames.  The  mother's  first  cry  was 
for  her  child,  but  none  had  seen  it  or  thought  of  it, 
and,  in  spite  of  all  remonstrances,  she  went  for  it 
through  the  flames.  The  child  was  saved  un- 
harmed, but  the  mother  was  so  burned  that  life  hung 
for  a  long  time  trembling  in  the  balance.  When  she 
recovered,  her  friends  could  not  recognize  her;  her 
face  and  hands  were  so  awfully  disfigured  that  none 
cared  to  look  upon  her  twice.  But  the  daughter  grew 
up  to  beautiful  womanhood.  One  day  a  stranger 
entered  the  dwelling  and  paid  his  court  to  the  daugh- 
ter. This  man  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  mother  as  she 
passed  through  the  room,  and,  shocked  at  her  terrible 


304  MISCELLANIES 

appearance,  asked  the  daughter  who  that  was.  And 
the  girl  was  ashamed  to  tell,  and  made  up  some  lying 
story  to  the  effect  that  she  was  no  relative  of  hers. 
She  who  owed  not  only  her  beauty,  but  her  life,  to  a 
mother's  self-devotion  and  self-immolation,  refused 
to  acknowledge  that  she  had  any  connection  with  her. 
Was  there  any  measuring  the  wickedness  of  that  pride 
or  the  hardness  of  that  ungrateful  heart?  But  there 
is  one  who  has  done  more  than  that  for  you  and  me — 
one  who  suffered  agony  and  death  for  us.  "  His 
visage  is  marred  more  than  any  man  and  his  form 
more  than  the  sons  of  men."  Oh,  how  great  is  our 
shame  and  guilt  when  we  refuse  to  acknowledge  him 
as  our  brother,  our  Saviour,  our  Lord ! 

We  believe  the  extension  of  his  kingdom  in  the 
earth  to  be  the  true  remedy  of  the  world's  ills  and 
the  true  prescription  for  human  happiness.  But  how 
shall  his  kingdom  be  extended  except  by  the  confes- 
sion of  its  value  and  power  on  the  part  of  us  who 
believe  in  these?  Christ's  method  of  conquering  the 
world  to  himself  is  by  this  confession  of  his  name. 
Without  such  confession,  we  not  only  can  do  nothing 
to  advance  his  cause,  but  our  influence  is  necessarily 
on  the  side  of  his  adversaries.  The  world  classes  as 
its  own  every  man  who  does  not  explicitly  declare 
himself  for  Christ.  The  example  of  those  who  con- 
fess Christ  is  an  all-important  means  of  bringing 
others  to  confess  him.  Who  that  has  read  it  will  ever 
forget  that  scene  in  "  Tom  Brown  at  Rugby  "  where 
young  Arthur,  the  delicate  and  timid  boy,  the  first 
night  of  his  arrival  at  the  great  school,  dares  nobly  to 
do  what  none  had  had  courage  to  do  before,   kneel 


CONFESSING    CHRIST  305 

down  by  his  bedside  before  retiring,  in  the  presence 
of  all  the  boys,  and  say  the  prayers  his  mother  had 
taught  him.  Some  of  the  boys  laugh,  some  sneer, 
and  one  young  bully  flings  a  boot  at  him  as  he  kneels, 
but  still  the  boy  prays  on.  Oh,  what  power  that  ex- 
ample has!  A  score  of  boys  lie  tossing  on  their 
beds  that  night  in  shame  and  conviction  of  their  own 
cowardice.  A  score  of  resolutions  are  made  that  they 
will  themselves  do  right  in  future,  and  the  next  morn- 
ing sees  Tom  Brown  kneeling  too,  and  day  by  day 
others  are  added  to  the  number,  till  evening  and  morn- 
ing prayer  becomes  the  rule  and  not  the  exception  in 
that  great  dormitory  room.  It  is  only  a  picture  of 
what  happens  everywhere  in  life.  One  man  who  has 
the  bravery  and  the  grace  to  follow  his  convictions 
and  openly  to  confess  his  Saviour,  awakens  by  this 
very  act  the  consciences  of  a  score  of  others,  and 
they  are  led  to  put  away  their  fears  and  stand  for 
Jesus.  So  on  the  other  hand,  our  silence,  our  tim- 
idity, our  denials  of  our  Lord  are  made  the  text  and 
excuse  for  others'  sins.  Many  in  all  probability  now 
side  against  Christ,  who  if  we  were  only  faithful 
might  be  living  witnesses  for  the  Redeemer. 

A  fourth  question  is  this:  What  necessary  connec- 
tion is  there  between  our  confession  or  denial  of  Christ 
and  Christ's  confession  or  denial  of  us?  We  may 
be  sure  there  is  some  necessary  connection.  Christ 
does  not  deny  those  who  deny  him,  on  the  principle 
of  revenge,  as  if  he  could  say  that  one  ill  turn  deserves 
another.  He  does  not  confess  those  who  confess  him, 
on  the  principle  of  personal  and  selfish  favoritism. 
No,  those  whom  he  confesses  or  denies  he  cannot  in 
u 


306  MISCELLANIES 

the  nature  of  things  treat  otherwise.  Do  not  forget 
that  this  confession  or  denial  on  our  part  is  the  con- 
fession or  denial  of  the  heart,  and  not  merely  of  the 
lips,  and  manifests  the  inmost  character  and  being  of 
the  soul.  He  who  in  his  soul  confesses  Christ  must 
have  sympathy  with  Christ  and  a  spirit  of  submission 
to  his  will.  Faith  and  love  and  holiness,  in  germ  at 
least,  exist  in  his  heart.  And  so  he  who  denies  Christ 
by  refusing  to  him  his  worship  and  allegiance,  reveals 
thereby  an  alienation  of  heart  from  Christ,  a  lack  of 
all  sympathy  with  him  or  love  for  him.  The  con- 
fession or  denial  of  the  lips  shall  be  brought  into 
judgment  only  as  evidence  that  the  inward  being  was 
on  the  one  hand  bound  to  Christ  in  obedience  and 
love,  or  on  the  other,  was  destitute  of  his  saving 
grace  and  his  life-giving  spirit. 

And  who  is  it  we  deny  when  we  deny  Christ? 
Ah,  it  is  God  himself,  our  Creator,  our  Preserver,  our 
Lawgiver,  our  Judge.  When  we  consider  that  Christ 
is  the  only  God  of  whom  we  know  anything  at  all. 
that  he  is  Deity  revealed,  God  manifested.  Divinity 
brought  down  to  our  human  comprehension  and  en- 
gaged in  the  work  of  our  salvation,  that  all  the  ful- 
ness of  the  Godhead  is  in  him,  and  that  besides  him 
there  is  no  Saviour,  then  we  see  that  to  confess  Christ 
is  to  give  in  our  allegiance  to  God,  and  that  to  deny 
Christ  is  to  turn  our  backs  on  God.  I  recollect  how 
a  swaggering,  blaspheming,  half-drunken  officer,  dur- 
ing the  war,  insulted  and  almost  drove  from  the  dock 
at  Alexandria,  a  quiet  inoffensive  person  in  citizen's 
dress,  and  how  that  same  officer  turned  pale,  fell  upon 
his  knees  and  begged  for  mercy,  when  the  quiet  citi- 


CONFESSING    CHRIST  3^7 

zen  demanded  his  sword,  put  him  under  arrest,  and 
made  himself  known  as  General  Grant.  We  may 
think  it  a  little  thing  to  deny  Christ  now,  and  to  treat 
his  commands  with  indifference,  but  it  will  be  a  more 
solemn  thing  when  we  wake  in  eternity  and  find  that 
he  whom  we  have  denied  is  none  other  than  the  living 
God,  before  whose  judgment-throne  we  are  to  give 
account  for  the  deeds  done  in  the  body. 

And  there  is  another  thing  still  to  be  considered, 
namely,  that  this  confessing  of  those  who  confess  him 
and  denying  those  who  deny  him,  instead  of  showing 
him  to  be  changeful  and  dependent  on  circumstances, 
is  the  very  proof  of  his  immutability.  Whoever  yet 
blamed  the  sun  for  partiality  or  inconstancy,  because 
it  melts  wax  but  hardens  clay?  The  great  luminary 
shines  on  in  unchanging  majesty;  different  objects 
are  differently  aft'ected  by  it  only  because  of  the  dif- 
ference in  their  natures.  So  the  very  fact  that 
Christ's  holiness  is  unchanging  makes  it  impossible 
for  him  to  do  otherwise  than  confess  those  who 
confess  him  and  deny  those  who  deny  him.  In  all 
this  he  is  only  unfolding  the  inevitable  law  of  the 
divine  nature,  that  attracts  the  good  and  repels  the 
bad.  In  his  denials  there  is  no  personal  pique  or 
anger,  but  only  the  revelation  of  the  essential  un- 
likeness  between  himself  and  sinners.  He  has  given 
himself  for  them;  they  will  not  give  themselves  for 
him;  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  which  possesses  him 
is  not  in  them;  they  live  for  self,  not  for  God;  and 
this  selfish  spirit  is  not  the  spirit  of  heaven,  but  the 
spirit  of  hell;  they  only  go  to  their  own  place  when 
Christ    separates    them    from   him.     Thus   the    same 


308  MISCELLANIES 

being  who  appears  as  a  God  of  love  to  the  righteous 
appears  to  the  wicked  as  a  consuming  fire.  There  is 
no  arbitrariness,  but  rather  divine  immutabihty,  in  the 
declarations:  "I  love  them  that  love  me";  "if  we 
deny  him,  he  also  will  deny  us  " ;  "  with  the  pure 
thou  wilt  show  thyself  pure,  and  with  the  froward 
thou  wilt  show  thyself  froward  " ;  for  all  these  are 
only  emphatic  declarations  that  God's  dealings  with 
men  shall  exactly  correspond  with  their  character  and 
conduct. 

I  am  glad  it  is  not  my  province  to  judge  any  of 
those  before  me.  Let  me  remind  you  however  that 
Christ's  eye  sees  and  his  righteousness  will  judge  you, 
in  exact  accordance  with  your  treatment  of  him  and 
your  disposition  toward  him.  When  I  think  that 
each  of  you  must  shortly  stand  before  that  crowned 
and  glorified  Saviour,  to  be  either  confessed  or  denied 
by  him,  I  am  impelled  to  plead  with  you  to  make  sure 
that  you  confess  him  here  not  only  with  the  lips  but 
in  heart  and  life.  Oh,  reflect  what  it  will  be  to  be 
denied  by  the  only  Saviour,  the  only  Friend  of  sin- 
ners, from  whose  denial  there  can  be  no  appeal,  be- 
cause in  him  as  in  an  infinite  reservoir  is  treasured  up 
the  whole  vast  compass  of  God's  redeeming  grace  and 
compassion.  God  has  come  in  Jesus  Christ  and  has 
manifested  himself  as  the  Lamb  of  love  and  sacrifice. 
What  hope  will  there  be  when  the  mercy  of  the  Lamb 
shall  be  exchanged  for  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb;  when 
all  the  grace  and  compassion  of  the  Godhead  shall  be 
turned  to  justice  and  indignation  against  those  who 
have  rejected  and  despised  him?  Better  lose  all  hap- 
piness in  this  world,   better  undergo  all  labors,   and 


CONFESSING    CHRIST  309 

endure  all  sufferings,  than  to  hear  Christ  say  to  us  at 
last:  "  I  know  you  not!  "  and  with  that  denial  to  be 
shut  out  from  God's  protection  and  favor  forever, 
and  from  all  the  blessings  and  joys  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven! 

But  on  the  other  hand,  what  safety,  what  honor, 
what  endless  joy  await  those  who  have  witnessed  a 
good  confession  and  have  stood  for  Jesus  in  spite  of 
all  the  contradictions  of  the  world!  Were  those 
Union  prisoners  sorry  they  had  suffered  so  much  at 
Andersonville,  when  they  landed  at  Fortress  Monroe 
under  the  old  flag  once  more,  and  President  Lincoln 
thanked  them  in  the  name  of  the  republic?  And 
will  it  not  be  worth  all  the  cost,  and  all  the  suffering 
of  a  Christian  life,  to  have  Christ  come  down  from 
his  throne  at  the  last  great  day  to  welcome  us  and 
confess  us  as  his  redeemed  and  faithful  ones  before 
his  Father  and  the  holy  angels?  Oh,  that  we  all 
might  sing  in  heart  and  life  that  stirring  and  exultant 
hymn : 

I'm  not  ashamed  to  own  my  Lord, 
Or  to  defend  his  cause; 

Maintain   the  honor  of  his  name, 
The  glory  of  his  cross. 

Jesus,  my  God,   I  know  his   name; 

His  name  is  all  my  trust ; 
Nor  will  he  put  my  soul  to  shame. 

Nor  let  my  hope  be  lost. 


XL 

THE  TEARS  OF  JESUS' 

Jesus  wept.    (John  ii:35-) 

This  is  the  shortest  verse  in  the  whole  Bible.  It  is 
a  fact  of  no  great  importance  in  itself,  for  the  division 
into  verses  was  made  by  uninspired  and  frequently 
injudicious  men  centuries  after  the  sacred  text  was 
first  written.  Yet  it  is  a  fact  of  interest  to  us,  be- 
cause it  shows  us  how  impressive  and  affecting  these 
men  of  other  times  felt  the  words  to  be.  In  this 
single  instance  they  did  what  they  never  did  again, — 
set  two  little  words  in  a  verse  by  themselves,  as  if  to 
intimate  that  they  were  unusually  solemn  and  full  of 
meaning.  Even  a  slight  meditation  upon  them  will 
convince  us,  I  think,  that  these  old  students  of  the 
Scriptures  were  right,  and  that  here  we  have  a  unique 
statement  of  the  Gospels,  through  which  we  catch 
glimpses  of  the  most  characteristic  features  of  our 
Saviour's  nature  and  work. 

Let  us  notice  two  things  which  make  it  remark- 
able that  Jesus  wept.  The  first  is  that  his  tears  were 
not  the  tears  of  one  who  was  always  weeping,  but 
the  tears  of  the  most  manly  and  majestic  soul  that 
ever  lived.  I  have  heard  people  say  that  Jesus  never 
smiled.     I  wonder  where  such  persons  have  got  their 

'  A   sermon    preached   in    the    Calvary    Baptist    Church,    New    York    City, 
July   i6,   1882. 

310 


THE    TEARS    OF    JESUS  3II 

knowledge ;  it  certainly  cannot  be  from  the  Scrip- 
tures. The  evangelists  represent  our  Lord  as  pos- 
sessing a  complete  manhood  and  as  exercising  all  the 
emotions  proper  to  manhood.  No  curtailed  and  nar- 
row life  was  his. 

In  the  days  of  his  childhood,  the  gospel  narrative 
presents  him  to  us  as  indistinguishable  from  other 
children;  we  naturally  think  of  innocent  prattle  and 
childish  laughter  as  well  as  of  childhood's  sorrows  and 
tears.  And  during  his  ministry,  there  were  times 
when  he  rejoiced  in  spirit,  and  when  that  rejoicing 
must  have  shone  out  from  eye  and  lip  and  brow. 
Was  there  no  smile  upon  his  face  when  the  weary 
and  heavy  laden  accepted  his  invitation  and  threw 
themselves  down  at  his  feet?  None  of  that  frivolity 
of  mind  which  descends  to  trifles  and  turns  life  itself 
into  a  continual  jest,  nothing  of  this  was  there.  But 
we  may  be  sure  that  there  was  a  calm  in  Jesus'  face 
which  was  not  often  broken  by  bursts  of  weeping. 
Man  of  Sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief  as  he  was, 
the  strong  crying  and  tears  were  mostly  reserved  for 
hours  of  secrecy,  when  none  but  the  eye  of  his  Father 
and  a  few  trusty  disciples  was  on  him.  His  tears 
are  no  commonplace  outbreaking  of  ill-regulated  sen- 
sibility. All  the  more  remarkable  is  it  then,  that  this 
once,  in  presence  of  a  great  crowd  of  spectators,  it  is 
related  that  "  Jesus  wept." 

There  is  a  second  thing  that  renders  these  tears 
remarkable.  It  is  this :  They  were  shed  by  one  who 
had  no  griefs  of  his  own  over  which  to  weep,  and 
who  was  just  about  to  remove  the  immediate  cause 
of  the  grief  he  saw  about  him.     As  they  were  not 


312  MISCELLANIES 

the  tears  of  unmanliness  so  they  were  not  the  tears 
of  despair.  You  remember  the  scene,  and  the  resur- 
rection from  the  tomb  which  followed  this  weeping. 
And  yet  the  same  voice  that  cried :  "  Lazarus,  come 
forth!  "  was,  just  before,  heard  uttering  the  common 
expressions  of  human  sorrow.  The  tears  were  the 
tears  of  one  who  was  about  to  raise  the  dead.  How 
different  they  were  from  the  tears  which  Martha  and 
Mary  shed!  Martha  and  Mary  wept  at  the  thought 
of  the  goodness  and  truth,  and  brother's  love,  which 
they  should  never  see  again  on  earth.  They  wept 
bitterly  and  inconsolably.  But  not  so  Jesus.  He  had 
already  spoken  of  Lazarus'  death  as  only  a  sleep  from 
which  divine  power  would  speedily  awaken  him.  He 
had  come  to  the  sepulcher  with  the  distinct  purpose 
of  speaking  a  word  of  might  which  would  bring  back 
the  soul  from  the  abode  of  spirits.  Even  while  he 
stood  there,  the  thought  must  have  rejoiced  him  that 
he  would  turn  this  mourning  into  gladness  and  this 
sorrow  into  speedy  joy.  And  yet  the  great  Being 
who  was  to  do  all  this — he  who  carried  in  his  girdle 
the  keys  of  death  and  hell — stood  there  amid  the 
tearful  crowd,  and  as  men  looked  upon  him,  they  saw 
that  he  too  was  in  tears.     "  Jesus  wept." 

Thus  we  have  considered  two  things  which  made 
these  tears  of  Jesus  remarkable,  namely,  the  manly 
calmness  of  his  nature  and  his  power  and  purpose 
to  remove  the  immediate  cause  of  the  sisters'  sorrow. 
These  considerations  throw  a  mystery  over  these  tears 
of  Jesus.  What  was  the  cause  of  these  tears?  H 
they  were  not  the  overflowings  of  mere  excited  sensi- 
bility, nor  the  mournful  proof  of  a  despairing  heart, 


THE    TEARS    OF    JESUS  3I3 

what  manner  of  tears  were  they?  There  are  two 
answers  which  we  may  give,  and  the  first  is  that  they 
ivcre  tears  of  sympathy  with  the  grief  of  those  he 
loved.  Here  were  two  friends  of  Jesus,  whose  kind- 
ness and  affection  had  made  their  home  a  refuge  for 
him.  It  was  an  intimacy  dating  back  in  all  probabil- 
ity to  the  first  months  of  his  Judean  ministry,  when 
his  adherents  were  few  and  when  the  authorities  of 
Jerusalem  had  treated  his  claims  with  contempt.  All 
the  more  must  Jesus  have  been  attached  to  this  noble 
family  of  Bethany,  who  so  early  espoused  his  cause 
and  saw  in  him  the  Messiah  and  King  of  Israel.  Not 
many  homes  were  open  to  him;  the  foxes  had  holes, 
and  the  birds  of  the  air  had  nests,  but  the  Son  of  man 
too  often  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head.  Not  many 
families  could  have  furnished  our  Lord  with  a  con- 
genial abode.  This  family  seems  to  have  been  dis- 
tinguished by  a  wonderful  strength  of  affection, 
knitting  each  member  to  each  with  a  love  which  many 
waters  could  not  quench,  nor  death  itself  destroy. 
And  this  mutual  love  drew  forth  the  love  of  Jesus; 
of  no  other  family  are  such  words  as  these  written : 
"  Now  Jesus  loved  Martha  and  her  sister  and  Laz- 
arus." Blessed  with  abundance  of  worldly  goods  as 
well  as  with  these  better  treasures  of  the  heart,  all 
things  had  gone  well  with  them.  But  now  came  the 
first  terrible  stroke  of  sorrow  that  had  ever  lighted 
upon  them,  and  their  hearts  were  crushed  with  a  weight 
of  anguish  exactly  proportioned  to  the  greatness  of 
their  love.  Now  they  were  gaining  their  first  bitter 
experience  of  the  fact  that  "  Chords  that  vibrate  sweet- 
est pleasure,  thrill  the  deepest  notes  of  woe." 


314  MISCELLANIES 

How  much  there  was  here  to  touch  the  heart  of 
Jesus!  These  best  of  his  friends  were  in  sore  dis- 
tress. And  he,  in  part,  had  caused  their  sorrow. 
Evermore  in  their  grief,  would  come  up  the  reproach- 
ful exclamation :  "  Lord,  if  thou  hadst  been  here,  our 
brother  had  not  died."  The  consciousness  that  always 
adds  poignancy  to  sorrow,  the  consciousness  that 
there  was  a  way  in  which  it  might  have  been  pre- 
vented, was  made  more  bitter  still  by  the  doubt  of 
Jesus'  interest  in  their  case.  There  was  a  mystery 
about  it  that  confounded  them.  Was  Jesus  their  best 
friend?  How  then  could  it  be  that  he  should  know 
their  need,  yet  never  come  to  save  their  only  brother 
from  the  grasp  of  death?  And  with  this  there  was 
very  probably  the  feeling  that  they  were  forsaken  of 
God  also.  Confidence  in  God  is  often  shaken  by  the 
desertion  of  those  we  love.  H  Jesus  could  forsake 
them  in  their  hour  of  need,  how  natural  it  was  that 
they  should  begin  to  despair,  even  of  the  superintend- 
ing care  and  goodness,  aye,  of  the  very  presence  and 
being,  of  God!  If  there  is  anything  dreadful  on  earth, 
it  is  the  "  horror  of  great  darkness,"  when  not  only 
the  light  of  earthly  love  goes  out  in  death,  but  when 
the  light  of  God's  love  goes  out  also.  Affliction  with- 
out hope,  sorrow  without  God,  that  is  "  the  land  of 
darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death,  where  the  very 
light  is  as  darkness." 

And  yet,  while  Martha  and  Mary  were  tempted  to 
fancy  themselves  alone  in  the  bitterness  of  their  grief 
and  deserted  by  their  best  friend,  Jesus  was  not  only 
near  them,  but  he  entered  into  all  their  trial,  and  felt 
every  pang  of  it  as  if  it  were  his  own.     They  did  not 


THE    TEARS    OF    JESUS  3^5 

know,  they  could  not  understand  how   fully;  still  it 
was   true  that  Jesus   sorrowed   for  them  more   than 
they    sorrowed    for    themselves.     For    all    souls    feel 
keenly    and   deeply    just    in    proportion   to   their   ca- 
pacity for  feeling.     I  have  seen  a  child  suffer  bodily 
pain;  but  I  have  seen  the  mother  of  that  child  stand 
over  the  bedside  of  the  little  one,  with  an  anguish  on 
her  face  of  which  the  child  was  utterly  incapable,  and 
which  the  child  could  not  possibly  comprehend.     If 
the  mother  could  have  taken  the  child's  physical  suf- 
fering on  herself,   she  would  have  thought  it  great 
gain.     And  so  the  mental  tension  and  grief  of  a  large 
and   sympathizing  heart    may  be   very  much   greater 
than   the   original   grief    with   which    it    sympathizes, 
simply  because  the  heart  is  larger.     It  was  so  with 
Jesus.     His  was  the  tender  and  illimitable  nature  that 
took  in  to  itself,  as  it  were,  all  the  trial  and  sickness 
and  pain  that  it  saw  about  it,  felt  it  with  a  keenness 
that  we  can  never  understand,  because  we  cannot  un- 
derstand  the   infinite   breadth   and   sensibility   of   his 
being.     Matthew  tells  us  that  his  mingling  with  the 
infirm  and  possessed,  and  his  healing  of  them,  were 
a   fulfilment  of  those  words  of  the  prophet  Isaiah: 
''  Himself    took    our   infirmities   and    bore   our   sick- 
nesses."    It  was  this   identification   of   himself   with 
those  he  loved,  this  putting  of  himself  under  the  whole 
burden  of  their  grief  and  misery,  this  penetrating  of 
all  the  greatness  of  his  nature  with  their  sorrow,  that 
was  shown  when  Jesus  wept,  amid  that  weeping  crowd 
at  the  tomb  of  Lazarus. 

It  has  sometimes  been  said  that  we  have  here  one  of 
the  great  proofs  that  Jesus  was  a  man  like  ourselves, 


3l6  MISCELLANIES 

possessed  of  true  human  nature  that  can  sympathize 
with  us  now,  even  though  he  has  ascended  into  the 
heavens.  I  acknowledge  that  this  is  so,  and  rejoice 
in  it.  This  weeping  of  the  Saviour  assures  us  that 
he  has  a  brother's  heart,  a  heart  that  can  be  touched 
with  the  feeHng  of  our  infirmities.  But  if  this  were 
all,  the  revelation  would  not  be  so  great  after  all. 
That  there  was  once  a  man  who  had  perfect  sympathy 
with  human  griefs,  that  is  beautiful  enough;  but  what 
is  that  to  me,  if  this  man  is  no  longer  on  the  earth? 
It  is  not  then  the  fact  of  Christ's  human  nature  that 
makes  this  scene  so  valuable  to  us,  but  rather  the  fact 
that  this  human  nature  and  these  human  tears  were 
media  through  which  the  divine  nature  and  the  divine 
affections  were  made  manifest  to  us.  For  Jesus  was 
God  as  well  as  man,  and  through  his  human  life  the 
attributes  of  God  were  brought  down  to  our  compre- 
hension and  demonstrated  to  us.  How  often  have 
men  questioned  whether  God  were  not  too  great  to 
be  affected  with  sympathy  or  love  or  sorrow !  How 
often  have  men  thought  that  they  honored  him  by 
denying  that  there  was  anything  in  him  that  corre- 
sponded to  the  feelings  of  our  human  hearts!  Even 
though  the  Scriptures  declare  that  man  is  made  in  the 
image  of  God,  and  that  God's  mind  is  the  prototype 
of  man's,  there  have  been  religious  teachers  who  have 
represented  the  Deity  to  be  impassive  and  cold  and  far 
away  as  the  iceberg  of  an  arctic  night!  Now  God 
was  manifest  in  the  flesh  to  teach  us  better  things  than 
this — to  teach  us  that  God  is  love,  that  just  in  propor- 
tion to  the  height  and  glory  of  his  nature  is  the  ten- 
derness  of   his   sympathy   and   compassion.     And   so 


THE    TEARS    OF    JESUS  317 

Jesus'  tears  speak  a  silent  language  more  powerful 
than  words;  they  tell  us  of  the  infinite  emotions  of 
God's  heart  toward  those  who  suffer;  they  assure  us 
that  "  in  all  our  affliction  he  is  afflicted  "  too.  Oh, 
the  blessing  of  knowing  this !  Sorrow,  without  God's 
presence  and  love,  is  rayless  and  inconsolable.  But 
sorrow,  with  a  present  God  and  Saviour,  is  mingled 
with  a  heavenly  peace.  We  know  that  "  he  doeth  all 
things  well,"  and  though  the  sun's  face  is  hidden  by 
a  cloud  of  trouble,  there  is  a  bright  light  upon  its  dark 
expanse  that  proves  to  us  that  "  behind  the  cloud  is 
the  sun  still  shining." 

I  know  there  are  many  difficulties  attending  this 
conception  of  God's  sympathy,  and  I  do  not  pretend 
to  solve  them  all.  But  I  cling  close  to  the  represen- 
tations of  Scripture.  There  I  find  no  impassive  God. 
The  height  and  glory  of  his  nature  do  not  prevent  him 
from  coming  down  to  feel  for  me  in  my  trouble  and 
compassionate  me  in  my  sin.  There  is  grief  in  his 
heart  when  he  spares  not  his  own  Son ;  else  he  makes 
no  sacrifice  in  my  behalf.  There  is  grief  in  his  heart 
when  he  cries :  "  How  shall  I  give  thee  up,  O 
Ephraim!  "  Else  there  is  no  meaning  in  his  tenderest 
words.  And  yet  he  is  the  ever-blessed  God.  "  In  the 
outer  chambers,"  as  one  has  said.  "  there  is  sorrow, 
but  in  the  inner  sanctuary  there  is  joy."  And  it  is 
this  joy  that  he  would  impart  to  us — joy  that  out- 
weighs and  swallows  up  the  sorrow.  And  he  would 
impart  it  to  us  by  drawing  near  to  us  in  the  person 
of  Jesus.  In  Jesus  we  see  a  God  who  can  be  touched 
with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities  and  who  can  give 
us  succor  in  our  time  of  need.     In  the  light  of  this 


3l8  MISCELLANIES 

revelation  I  can  take  for  truth  all  that  William  Blake 
has  expressed  in  his  touching  poem: 

Can  I  see  another's  woe 

And  not  be  in  sorrow  too? 

Can  I  see  another's  grief 

And  not  seek  for  kind  relief? 

Can  I  see  a  falHng  tear 

And  not  feel  my  sorrow's  share? 

Can  a  father  see  his  child 

Weep,  not  be  with  sorrow   filled? 

Can  a  mother  sit  and  hear 

An  infant  groan,  an  infant  fear? 

No,  no !  never  can  it  be ! 

Never,  never  can  it  be ! 

And  can  He  who  smiles  on  all 
Hear  the  wren  with  sorrows  small, 
Hear   the    small   bird's   grief   and    care, 
Hear  the  woes  that  infants  bear, 
And  not  sit  beside  the  nest 
Pouring  pity  in  their  breast. 
And  not  sit  the  cradle  near 
Weeping  tear  on  infant's  tear? 
And  not  sit  both  night  and  day 
Wiping  all  our  tears  away? 
Oh,  no,  never  can  it  be, 
Never,  never  can  it  be ! 

He  doth  give  his  joy  to  all : 
He  becomes  an  infant  small, 
He  becomes  a  man  of  woe, 
He  doth  feel  the  sorrow  too. 
Think  not  thou  canst  sigh  a  sigh 
And  thy  Maker  is  not  by; 
Think  not  thou  canst  weep  a  tear 
And  thy  Maker  is  not  near — 
Oh,  he  gives  to  us  his  joy 
That  our  grief  he  may  destroy. 
Till  our  grief  is  fled  and  gone 
He  doth  sit  by  us  and  moan. 


THE    TEARS    OF    JESUS  3 19 

But  there  was  a  second  characteristic  of  Jesus'  tears, 
of  even  more  value  than  this.  They  were  not  only 
tears  of  sympathy  for  human  grief,  but  tJicy  ivcre  also 
tears  of  sorrozv  for  human  sin.  The  eye  of  Jesus 
looked  not  merely  at  the  outward  and  superficial  trou- 
ble of  the  world,  but  at  the  inward  and  hidden  cause  of 
it,  the  sin  which  had  "  brought  death  into  the  world 
and  all  our  woe."  To  him  who  had  come  as  the 
world's  deliverer,  this  one  great  fact  of  human  sin  re- 
vealed itself  in  the  least  things  as  well  as  in  the  great- 
est ;  it  was  the  dominant  and  controlling  fact  of  human 
life  and  history.  We  all  know  how  a  tender  and  re- 
ligious soul  will  be  shocked  and  distressed  by  evil 
words  and  acts  that  do  not  cause  the  majority  of 
men  the  least  uneasiness.  The  purer  and  clearer  the 
mirror,  the  more  easily  will  the  least  breath  tarnish 
it.  So  there  was  an  infinite  susceptibility  in  Jesus  to 
the  remotest  approaches,  to  the  most  indirect  results, 
of  sin.  Every  sight  of  disease  caused  him  a  suffering 
which  we,  with  our  duller  sense,  can  hardly  under- 
stand. That  was  the  explanation  of  that  deep  sighing 
that  he  uttered  when  they  brought  to  him  the  man  that 
was  deaf  and  that  had  an  impediment  in  his  speech. 
Though  he  was  just  about  to  say  to  those  deaf  ears, 
"  Ephphatha  "  (be  opened),  and  to  loose  the  tongue 
that  had  never  spoken  plainly,  he  yet  felt  himself 
brought  face  to  face  with  that  sin  which  had  caused 
all  these  miseries,  and  his  whole  frame  was  convulsed 
with  sighing.  How  then  must  Jesus  have  felt  when 
they  brought  him  to  the  tomb  where  Lazarus  lay,  and 
into  the  immediate  presence  of  that  death,  whose  cor- 
ruption presented  the  niost  fearful  picture  of  the  sin 


320  MISCELLANIES 

of  the  world?  Jesus  shrank  from  death  more  than 
any  of  us  ever  can,  for  he  saw  what  death  meant  better 
than  we.  How  dreadful  was  this  separation  of  the 
soul  from  the  body,  a  separation  that  left  the  body  to 
loathsomeness  and  decay !  But  how  much  more  dread- 
ful that  other  death  of  which  this  was  the  symbol, 
that  death  which  consisted  in  the  separation  of  the 
soul  from  God,  and  the  consequent  corruption  of  all 
in  it  that  was  lovely  and  pure!  All  this  came  before 
the  Saviour's  mind  as  he  stood  before  the  tomb  at 
Bethany.  But  this  was  not  all.  He  saw  that  this 
"  death  had  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all  had 
sinned."  This  sealed  tomb  was  but  the  type  of  myriads 
of  tombs  that  had  closed  upon  the  loved  and  lost. 
These  tears  that  streamed  down  Mary's  and  Martha's 
cheeks  were  but  single  drops  of  great  rivers  of  sorrow 
that  had  been  pouring  forth  from  hearts  crushed  and 
broken  ever  since  the  first  great  sin.  And  this  sor- 
row was  nothing  to  the  sorrow  which  sin  should  yet 
cause  to  thousands  upon  thousands  of  earth's  inhab- 
itants. And  there  was  no  exception,  not  one  soul 
could  ever  escape;  the  wages  of  sin  was  death;  the 
soul  that  sinneth,  it  must  die.  And  he  too  must  die, 
not  because  he  had  sinned,  but  because  he  had  taken 
upon  him  the  nature  that  had  sinned.  My  friends,  it 
was  an  anticipation  of  Gethsemane.  The  sin  and 
death  that  rested  like  a  pall  upon  the  whole  earth  for 
a  moment  overshadowed  the  Saviour  also.  He 
groaned  in  spirit  with  a  groaning  humanity.  He  wept, 
as  he  wept  in  the  garden,  for  a  lost  and  ruined  race. 

In  the  autobiography  of  John  Woolman,  that  em- 
inent early  missionary  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  we 


THE    TEARS    OF    JESUS  321 

have  an  experience  which  enables  us  to  see  how  intense 
the  sense  of  others'  sins  may  be. 

"  O  Lord  my  God,"  he  cried,  "  the  amazing  horrors  of  dark- 
ness were  gathered  about  me,  and  covered  me  all  over,  and 
1  saw  no  way  to  go  forth;  I  felt  the  depth  and  extent  of  the 
misery  of  my  fellow-creatures  separated  from  the  divine  har- 
mony, and  it  was  greater  than  1  could  bear,  and  I  was  crushed 
down  under  it.  I  lifted  up  my  head,  I  stretched  out  my  arm, 
but  there  was  none  to  help  me.  I  looked  round  about  and  was 
amazed.  In  the  depths  of  misery,  O  Lord,  I  remembered  that 
thou  art  omnipotent,  that  I  had  called  thee  Father.  I  had  vision 
of  a  dull  gloomy  mass  darkening  half  the  heavens,  and  this,  I 
was  told,  was  human  beings  in  as  great  misery  as  they  could 
be  and  live.  And  I  was  mixed  with  them,  so  that  henceforth 
I  might  not  consider  myself  a  distinct  and  separate  being." 

This  was  but  a  human  experience.  What  must 
have  been  the  experience  of  Christ,  who  was  the 
center  and  heart  of  humanity  and  at  the  same  time 
God  manifest  in  the  flesh!  Do  we  not  begin  to  see 
how  sufferings  such  as  these,  grounded  in  his  nature 
and  natural  connection  with  the  human  race,  may 
have  been  the  very  means  by  which  he  bore  the  in- 
iquities of  us  all  and  so  made  atonement  for  us? 
Surely  in  these  tears  of  Christ  we  may  recognize  the 
proof  that  human  sin  was  not  something  which  he 
could  look  upon  as  foreign  to  him.  He  had  come 
into  connection  with  it,  into  responsibility  for  it.  It 
was  in  view  of  his  organic  connection  with  humanity 
in  its  sin  and  death,  that  he  shed  those  tears  at  Bethany. 

I  thank  God  that  he  wept,  instead  of  taking  the 
place  of  the  Judge  and  declaring  this  death  to  be  only 
sin's  fit  and  righteous  penalty.  And  here  again  I 
see  in  his  weeping,  and  so  taking  part  in  our  misery, 
the  proof  and  demonstration  of  God's  attitude  toward 

V 


3^2  MISCELLANIES 

US.  We  all  know  that  God  must  be  just,  but  until  God 
reveals  it  to  us,  we  do  not  know  that  he  can  con- 
sistently have  mercy  on  those  who  deserve  only  his 
indignation  and  wrath.  But  Jesus  came  for  the  very 
purpose  of  declaring  that  God  can  be  just  and  yet  can 
justify  him  that  believeth.  In  Jesus'  taking  part  with 
us  and  bearing  even  the  burdens  which  sin  has  laid 
upon  us,  we  see  God's  plan  and  purpose  of  redemp- 
tion, for  "  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world 
unto  himself."  Jesus  weeping  there,  assures  me  that 
God  is  not  only  a  Judge,  but  a  Saviour.  I  see  there 
a  God  who  does  not  merely  pity  the  trials  of  his  crea- 
tures, but  whose  pity  is  great  enough  actually  to  bear 
their  griefs  and  to  carry  their  sorrows.  I  see  a  God 
who  in  the  person  of  his  Son  puts  his  own  great  shoul- 
ders under  the  crushing  burden  of  their  debts  and 
diseases  and  iniquities  and  miseries,  and  so  constitutes 
himself  the  Lamb  of  God  who  takes  upon  himself  and 
takes  away  the  sins  of  the  world.  Whoever  you  may 
be  then,  O  doubting  disciple,  whoever  you  may  be 
then,  O  repenting  sinner,  see  that  there  is  love  for  you 
in  the  heart  of  God,  for  it  is  the  heart  of  God  that  lies 
open  to  you  in  this  assurance  that  "  Jesus  wept."  He 
wept  for  your  sins,  because  he  saw  them  in  all  their 
guilt  and  enormity.  He  wept  for  your  sins,  because 
he  had  taken  them  upon  him  to  answer  for  them.  He 
wept  for  your  sins,  because  he  saw  before  him  the 
death  that  was  their  due.  And  that  weeping  for  them 
was  the  first  sign  and  evidence  that  he  had  assumed  the 
load  of  them  and  that  he  had  begun  even  then  to  make 
propitiation  for  them,  and  "  not  for  your  sins  only,  but 
for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world."     I  bid  you  rejoice 


THE    TEARS    OF    JESUS  323 

then  and  be  glad,  because  you  see  the  proof  of  an 
atoning  God,  a  pardoning  God,  a  sanctifying  God,  in 
Jesus'  .tears. 

So  the  sympathy  of  our  divine  Redeemer  is  a  sym- 
pathy that  goes  to  the  root  of  our  sorrow  and  re- 
moves its  cause;  it  is  a  sympathy  that  brings  salva- 
tion. And  having  done  so  much,  can  we  suppose 
that  it  will  cease  its  work  of  love  until  it  has  put  an 
end  to  all  the  ill  that  sin  has  wrought?  How  the 
sympathy  of  Jesus  and  his  participation  in  their  grief 
must  have  strengthened  the  faith  of  those  sisters  and 
prepared  them  for  the  final  act  of  his  power  when 
he  raised  Lazarus  from  the  dead !  Shall  we  have  less 
faith  in  him  than  they?  nay,  shall  we  not  have  more? 
Death  has  taken  from  us  again  and  again  the  forms 
of  those  we  loved  and  who  loved  Jesus.  Can  we 
not  trust  that  the  same  divine  voice  that  called  forth 
Lazarus  and  restored  him  to  those  two  rejoicing 
hearts,  will  also  safely  keep  and  finally  raise  in  glory 
the  precious  dust  which  we  have  laid  away  so  sadly 
and  so  tenderly?  There  was  a  trial  of  Mary's  and 
Martha's  faith  while  Jesus  delayed  his  coming.  But 
did  not  the  Saviour's  righteousness  "  shine  forth  as 
the  sun  and  his  goodness  as  the  light,"  when  he  came 
at  last?  And  was  there  not  a  growth  and  advance- 
ment in  the  sisters'  knowledge  of  Christ  that  was  more 
than  a  recompense  for  the  sorrow  and  anxiety  of  that 
long  delay?  So  shall  it  be  with  us  who  pass  through 
days  of  darkness,  our  loved  ones  severed  from  us,  and 
our  trust  in  Jesus  often  shaken  by  the  storm.  "  Now 
for  a  season  we  are  in  heaviness  through  manifold 
temptations,"  but  it  is  all  in  order  "  that  the  trial  of 


324  MISCELLANIES 

our  faith,  being  much  more  precious  than  of  gold  that 
perisheth,  though  it  be  tried  with  fire,  might  be  found 
unto  praise  and  honor  and  glory  at  the  appearing  of 
Jesus  Christ."  And  then,  when  Jesus  comes,  he  will 
bring  back  again  to  us,  as  he  did  to  Martha  and  Mary, 
the  living  forms  of  the  dear  departed,  and  brother 
and  sister,  husband  and  wife,  mother  and  child,  friend 
and  friend  in  Christ  sliall  rejoice  together.  Jesus' 
tears  and  the  tears  of  his  disciples  shall  not  be  in  vain. 
"  For  he  must  reign  until  he  hath  put  all  enemies 
under  his  feet.  The  last  enemy  that  shall  be  abolished 
is  death." 

Jesus  wept!   those  tears  are  over 

But  his  heart  is  still  the  same; 
Kinsman,  Friend,  and  elder  Brother 
Is  his  everlasting  name; 

Saviour,  virho  can  love  like  thee, 
Gracious  One  of  Bethany? 

When  the  pangs  of  trial  seize  us, 
When  the  waves  of  sorrow  roll, 
I  will  lay  my  head  on  Jesus, 
Pillow  of  the  troubled  soul. 
Surely,   none   can    feel   like   thee, 
Weeping  One  of  Bethany! 

Jesus  wept  and  still  in  glory, 

He  can  mark  each  mourner's  tear; 
Living  to  retrace  the  story 
Of  the  hearts  he  solaced  here. 
Lord,  when  I  am  called  to  die, 
Let  me  think  of  Bethany! 

Jesus  wept !  that  tear  of  sorrow 

Is  a  legacy  of  love; 
Yesterday,  to-day,  to-morrow, 
He  the  same  doth  ever  prove. 
Thou  art  all  in  all  to  me, 
Living  One  of  Bethany! 


THE    TEARS    OF    JESUS  325 

Such  is  the  blessing  to  us  of  Jesus'  tears.  How 
those  tears  have  comforted  the  world!  Thousands 
who  have  been  alone  in  their  affliction  and  have  had 
no  friend  or  helper,  have  remembered  that  Jesus  wept 
and  have  felt  the  burden  lifted  from  them  by  the 
sweetness  of  that  thought.  Thousands  who  have  been 
oppressed  with  sin  and  bound  with  iron  chains  of  evil 
habit  have  had  brought  to  their  memories  the  picture 
of  a  weeping  Saviour,  and  by  the  power  of  it  have 
felt  the  chains  fall  away  and  the  gladness  of  a  new 
hope  springing  up  within  their  hearts.  Why  was 
it?  Simply  because  the  Spirit  of  God  showed  them 
more  or  less  distinctly  that  Jesus  was  no  ordinary 
man,  weeping  for  his  own  grief,  but  that  he  was  the 
image  of  the  invisible  God,  sorrowing  with  and  for 
the  creatures  of  his  hand,  his  erring,  suffering  chil- 
dren, and  therein  giving  the  pledge  of  his  everlasting 
love  and  his  almighty  power  to  comfort  and  to  save. 
Therefore  every  one  of  us  may  say :  "  Jesus  wept  " 
for  me,  and  I  need  weep  no  more  for  any  sorrows  of 
my  own  or  for  any  sins,  for  he  can  and  will  "  save 
to  the  uttermost  all  them  that  come  unto  God  by  him." 
But  have  you  noticed  this. — how  dependent  w^e  are 
for  this  teaching  with  regard  to  God,  upon  the  tears 
of  the  man  Christ  Jesus?  God  teaches  men  the  in- 
finite feelings  of  his  heart,  by  the  sympathy  and  sor- 
row that  appear  on  Jesus'  face.  From  wdiat  the  man 
felt  we  learn  how  God  felt.  From  the  earthly  things 
we  learn  of  the  heavenly  things. 

My  brethren  and  sisters  in  whom  Christ  dwells, 
be  taught  a  lesson  by  this.  Remember  that  just  as 
you  have  learned  of  God  from  Jesus'  tears,   so  the 


326  MISCELLANIES 

world  will  learn  of  God  and  of  Christ  from  your 
tears.  If  Christ  is  in  you,  then  your  heart  will  be 
moved  and  your  tears  will  flow  in  sympathy  with 
the  wants  and  woes,  and  in  sorrow  for  the  sins  and 
suffering  and  lost  around  you.  Though  your  heart 
may  be  so  fixed  on  God  that  you  know  no  trans- 
ports or  paroxysms  of  grief,  you  will  deeply  feel, 
and  you  will  not  think  it  unmanly  or  unwomanly  to 
yield  sometimes  to  the  silent  unbidden  tear  that  courses 
down  the  cheek.  If  you  are  Christ's,  then  you  are 
bound  not  to  look  upon  any  man's  sorrow  or  sin 
as  foreign  to  you,  but  to  identify  yourselves  as 
Jesus  did  with  the  sorrow  and  sin  of  the  world,  that 
as  much  as  in  you  lies  you  may  alleviate  the  sor- 
row and  remove  the  sin.  Thus  you  are  to  be  repre- 
sentatives of  Jesus,  and  the  tears  of  Jesus  are  to  be 
reproduced  in  you.  If  you  have  ever  been  in  sor- 
row, think  how  much  it  was  to  you  to  have  one  Chris- 
tian friend  silently  grasp  your  hand  and,  while  he  tried 
to  speak,  give  over  for  his  tears,  and  then  sit  silent 
with  you  weeping!  If  you  have  ever  been  burdened 
with  a  sense  of  sin,  remember  how  like  an  angel  of 
mercy  that  friend  seemed  who  pointed  you  tearfully 
to  the  cross  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  to  the  refuge  where 
he  too,  a  sinner,  found  pardon  and  peace.  Remem- 
ber that  these  did  all  this  for  you,  only  because  they 
were  following  in  the  footsteps  of  Jesus,  and  then  go 
yourselves  and  do  likewise.  If  you  have  ever  thought 
it  a  virtue  to  maintain  an  immovable  and  unsympa- 
thetic demeanor,  or  to  restrain  your  truest  and  tender- 
est  feelings  so  that  no  man  should  know  that  you  pos- 
sessed them,  oh,  take  this  stumbling-block  out  of  your 


THE    TEARS    OF    JESUS  327 

brother's  way,  and  imitate  the  simplicity  and  sym- 
pathy of  the  Saviour.  Without  expressing  a  feehng 
for  others'  sins  and  griefs,  you  cannot  be  following 
Christ  aright;  without  having  a  feeling  for  others' 
sins  and  griefs,  you  cannot  be  following  Christ  at 
all.  For  so  long  as  grief  and  sin  last,  they  are  to 
be  sorrowed  with  and  for,  and  it  is  God's  plan  of 
grace,  that  grief  should  be  cured  by  grief,  even  as 
Christ  by  his  vicarious  sacrifice  took  the  root  of  all 
our  griefs  away.  So  we  are  to  labor — full  of  a  tearful 
sympathy  with  human  wants  and  trials,  full  of  a  glow- 
ing confidence  in  Christ's  power  to  take  these  all 
away — labor  in  eradicating  the  last  remains  of  this 
spreading  network  of  evil  from  the  earth.  And  pres- 
ently we  shall  find  that  the  darkness  of  this  world 
brightens  w'ith  the  dawn  of  that  better  day  when 
"  God  shall  wipe  all  tears  from  our  eyes." 

Not  first  the  glad  and  then  the  sorrowful, 
But  first  the  sorrowful  and  then  the  glad; 

Tears  for  a  day — for  earth  of  tears  is  full — 
Then  we  forget  that  we  were  ever  sad. 

'Tis  first  the  night — dark  night  of  storm  and  war, 
Thick  night  of  heavy  clouds  and  veiled  skies ; 

Then  the  fair  sparkle  of  the  morning  star, 
That  bids  the  saints  awake  and  dawn  arise. 


XLI 
PREVENIENT  GRACE  ^ 

The  God  of  my  mercy  shall  prevent  me.     (Ps.  59:  10.) 

This  is  a  text  which  provoked  the  gratitude  of 
Augustine,  and  which  that  great  church  Father 
thought  one  of  the  jewels  of  the  word  of  God.  Why 
does  it  not  arouse  the  same  feehng  in  us?  Simply 
because  two  words  of  it  are  so  imperfectly  compre- 
hended. 

One  is  the  word  "  mercy."  This  does  not  mean 
God's  goodness  to  the  righteous,  but  his  undeserved 
favor  to  sinners.  Whoever  would  draw  the  line  be- 
tween the  unsaved  and  the  saved  should  draw  it  here : 
the  one  cast  themselves  as  guilty  and  helpless  upon 
God's  plan  of  mercy  in  the  gospel,  while  the  other 
think  to  secure  salvation  by  what  they  have  done  or 
can  do.  The  Scriptures  give  us  no  warrant  for  be- 
lieving that,  those  who  pride  themselves  upon  their 
good  works  or  their  righteousness  obtain  the  favor 
of  God.  If  any  are  saved,  it  is  those  who  trust,  not 
to  God's  justice,  but  to  his  compassion,  and  who  call 
God,  above  all  things,  "  the  God  of  my  mercy." 

The  other  word  is  the  word  "  prevent."  This 
word  has  lost  to  us  the  significance  which  it  had  to 
King    James'    translators.      It    does    not    mean    "  to 

'  A    sermon    preached    in    the    Wilder    Street    Baptist    Church,    Rochester. 
N.  Y.,  at  the  ordination  of  Rev.  I.  M.  De  Puy,  September  21,  1897. 

328 


PREVENIENT    GRACE  329 

hinder  "  or  "  to  thwart,"  but  "  to  go  before,"  "  to  an- 
ticipate." Hence  the  doctrine  of  the  text  is  that  God 
mercifully  goes  before  those  who  love  him,  prepar- 
ing their  way,  marking  out  their  path,  helping  their 
success,  insuring  their  salvation.  If  the  text  is  true, 
then  the  Christian  shall  find  everywhere  and  always 
that  God  is  there  before  him  for  good.  My  subject 
then  is  The  Prevenient  Grace  of  God.  Let  me 
show  you  in  how  many  ways  "  the  God  of  my  mercy 
shall  prevent  me." 

I.  Notice,  first,  that  all  present  gifts  and  blessings 
point  back  to  preparations  made  by  God,  some  of  them 
long  before  we  zvere  born.  In  nature  God  goes 
before.  The  cold  and  dreariness  of  winter  are  pre- 
pared for  by  the  warmth  and  the  harvests  of  the 
autumn.  The  leaves  are  even  now  turning  to  crim- 
son and  gold,  and  God  is  clothing  the  trees  with  a 
coat  of  many  colors,  richer  than  Jacob  ever  gave  to 
Joseph.  The  leaves  fall  to  protect  and  fertilize  the 
earth  beneath.  The  fruit  ripens  as  a  provision  for 
the  months  when  there  is  no  fruit.  But  even  this 
fruit  had  to  be  prepared  for  by  God's  sunshine  and 
showers.  Not  simply  man's  cultivation,  but  far  back 
of  that,  the  clearing  of  forests,  glacial  erosion,  al- 
luvial deposits,  all  went  before.  Our  coal  fires  are 
but  the  pouring  out  of  so  much  bottled  sunshine,  and 
the  bottling  took  place  long  before  we  were  born. 
The  trees  of  which  the  coal  was  made  were  trees 
of  Jehovah,  because  he  planted  them.  And  be- 
cause we  see  in  all  this  a  beneficent  design  and 
the  foresight  of  our  God,  we  celebrate  our  Thanks- 
giving Days,  and  our  Harvest-Homes.     So  we  com- 


330  MISCELLANIES 

fort  ourselves  in  the  months  that  are  chilly  and  for- 
lorn, in  the  assurance  that  these  are  only  giving  the 
earth  a  rest  for  renewed  production. 

Whoever  sees  'mid  winter's  fields  and  snow 
The  silent  harvest  of  the  future  good, 
God's  power  must  know, 

and  must  recognize  the  truth  of  the  text :  "  The  God 
of  my  mercy  shall  prevent  me,"  that  is,  shall  go  before 
me,  preparing  for  my  happiness  and  welfare. 

In  redemption  God  goes  before.  The  Christian 
ministry  and  the  Christian  church  preceded  our  in- 
dividual existence.  We  are  the  heirs  of  all  the  ages. 
Christ  came  before  we  were  born.  His  coming  was 
prepared  by  the  long  ages  of  the  Mosaic  Economy, 
and  that  in  turn  by  the  counsels  of  eternity.  That 
was  a  very  effective  appeal  of  the  lover,  in  the  novel, 
to  the  object  of  his  affection,  that  he  had  loved  her 
ever  since  he  had  first  set  his  eyes  upon  her  in  her 
childhood.  But  God  loved  us  before  the  morning 
stars  sang  together  at  the  dawn  of  creation.  He 
chose  us  in  Christ  before  the  world  was.  In  eternity 
past  the  redemption  of  his  people  was  planned.  Christ 
was  the  Lamb  slain  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world.  His  word  to  us  is :  "I  have  loved  thee  with 
an  everlasting  love :  therefore  with  loving-kindness 
have  I  drawn  thee."  H  God's  purpose  to  save  me, 
a  sinner,  antedated  creation,  surely  I  can  say :  "  The 
God  of  my  mercy  shall  prevent  me  " — shall  antici- 
pate my  doings  and  even  my  sins. 

n.  Observe  now,  in  the  second  place,  that  the 
actual  beginnings  of  our  life,  secular  and  religious, 


PREVENIENT    GRACE  331 

reveal  a  prearranging  divine  hand.  In  Providence 
God  goes  before.  Some  one  has  said  that  if  a  man 
proposes  to  be  a  gentleman  or  a  scholar  he  must  take 
great  pains  in  the  selection  of  his  ancestors,  and  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes  declares  that  every  man  is  an  om- 
nibus in  which  all  his  ancestors  are  seated.  But  how 
evident  it  is,  that  it  is  no  thanks  to  us  if  our  ancestry 
has  been  a  fortunate  one.  Our  parentage  is  chosen 
not  by  us  but  for  us.  How  many  good  traits  there 
are  which  are  outcroppings  of  a  father's  or  a  mother's 
character!  The  place  of  our  birth  and  our  early  en- 
vironment, how  little  we  have  had  to  do  with  deter- 
mining these!  And  yet  what  different  beings  we 
would  have  been  if  we  had  been  born  among  the  Hot- 
tentots, or  had  found  our  associates  among  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Five  Points.  We  talk  about  a  divine 
guidance  and  education  of  the  race.  But  there  is  a 
divine  guidance  and  education  of  the  individual  as 
well.  God  fits  us  for  places,  and  fits  places  for  us. 
The  meaning  of  many  a  minute  event  in  our  youthful 
history  is  disclosed  only  when  we  get  far  on  in  life. 
A  teacher's  instructions  or  the  warnings  of  a  friend 
fortify  us  for  the  temptations  of  our  manhood.  A 
seemingly  chance  decision,  a  casual  acquaintance,  a 
single  word  borne  to  our  ears,  determines  our  destiny. 
The  king  of  Babylon  stood  at  the  parting  of  the  way. 
Have  we  not  stood  there  too,  and  taken  the  step  to 
the  right,  which  led  to  prosperity  and  safety,  when 
a  step  to  the  left  would  have  led  to  temporal  and  eter- 
nal ruin?  To  us,  as  to  Cyrus,  God  can  say:  "  I  girded 
thee,  though  thou  hast  not  known  me."  Now  that 
we  do  know,  shall  we  not  say  with  gratitude :    "  The 


^^2  MISCELLANIES 

God  of  my  mercy  shall  prevent  me  " — shall  ever  go 
before  to  anticipate  my  dangers  and  to  save  me  from 
my  sins? 

But  in  conversion,  God  especially  goes  before.  We 
came  to  God  weighed  down  with  the  guilt  of  our 
transgressions,  and  seeking  some  way  by  which  we 
might  purge  ourselves  from  sin.  It  was  an  infinite 
debt  we  owed,  yet  we  had  not  a  single  farthing  where- 
with to  pay.  Can  we  ever  forget  how  in  our  despair 
Christ  came  to  us,  with  his  wounded  feet  and  bleed- 
ing hands,  and  showed  us  that  he  had  paid  our  debt, 
and  on  the  cross  had  made  such  full  atonement  that 
now  there  was  nothing  left  for  us  to  do  but  to  accept 
the  pardon  which  he  offered  without  money  and  without 
price?    We  had  been  trying  to  find  the  way  to  God 

Till  late  we  heard  our  Saviour  say: 
"Come  hither,   soul;   I   am  the  Way!" 

In  the  sacrifice  and  death  of  Christ,  in  the  execution 
as  well  as  in  the  preparation  of  salvation,  "  the  God  of 
my  mercy  shall  prevent  me  " — shall  provide  beforehand 
for  all  my  needs. 

Later  on  in  our  Christian  experience,  we  ask  our- 
selves how  we  ever  came  to  seek  Christ  at  all.  At  the 
time,  our  coming  to  him  seems  to  be  wholly  our  own 
act.  We  seem  to  be  sovereign.  Salvation  appears  to  be 
a  matter  of  our  own  wills.  And  unquestionably  with- 
out our  willing  and  doing  we  never  could  have  been 
saved.  But  afterward,  with  better  sense  of  our 
weakness  and  sinfulness  and  dependence  upon  God, 
it  occurs  to  us  that,  if  we  cannot  keep  ourselves  in  the 
way  of  life,   we  never  could  have   found  that  way 


PREVENIENT    GRACE  333 

alone.  We  confess  that  it  was  only  God  that  worked 
in  us  to  will  and  to  do,  and  made  us  willing  in  the  day 
of  his  power.  He  prepared  our  environment,  brought 
to  bear  the  means  of  grace,  exerted  a  mighty  influence 
upon  our  hearts.  He  made  sin  seem  hateful,  the 
world  seem  worthless,  Christ  seem  our  only  hope. 

Why  was  I  made  to  hear  Thy  voice 

And  enter  while  there's  room, 
When  thousands  make  a  wretched  choice 

And  rather  starve  than  come? 
'Twas  the  same  love  that  spread  the  feast 

That  gently  forced  me  in; 
Else  I  had  still  refused  to  taste, 

And  perished  in  my  sin! 

No  truly  converted  man  gives  praise  to  himself  for 
his  turning  to  God.  His  cry  is  rather:  "Not  unto 
us,  not  unto  us,  but  to  thy  name  give  glory."  The 
words  of  the  apostle  when  he  describes  Christians  as 
"Created  anew  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works, 
which  God  hath  before  ordained  that  we  should  walk 
in  them,"  and  Christ's  own  words  when  he  says :  "  Ye 
have  not  chosen  me,  but  I  have  chosen  you,"  are  only 
statements  in  other  forms  of  the  principle  of  the  text : 
"  The  God  of  my  mercy  shall  prevent  (or  go  before) 

me." 

A  third  fact  is  worthy  of  attention,  this,  namely, 
that :  All  subsequent  effort  for  God,  zvhen  scrutinized 
closely,  sJiozvs  that  God  has  an  unseen  initiative  in  it 
all.  In  prayer,  God  goes  before.  In  our  early 
prayers  we  seem  to  pray  alone.  God  is  far  away  and 
late  to  come.  Prayer  is  an  inward  struggle  without 
effect  outside  of  us.    But  at  last  we  learn  that  God  has 


334  MISCELLANIES 

more  interest  in  our  praying  than  we  have,  and  that  he 
incites  and  sustains  all  true  prayer. 

Prayer  is  the  breath  of  God  in  man 
Returning  whence  it  came. 

One  of  the  most  precious  and  affecting  recollections  of 
my  childhood  is  that  of  my  mother's  teaching  me 
how  to  pray.  Every  Saturday  afternoon,  when  the 
day's  work  was  done,  she  took  me,  a  child  of  four  or 
five  years,  into  a  large  closet,  and  there,  as  we  knelt 
by  a  wooden  chest,  she  suggested  to  me  the  thoughts, 
and,  when  I  could  not  command  the  words,  she  put 
into  my  mouth  the  very  words,  of  prayer.  I  shall 
never  forget  how  one  day,  as  I  had  succeeded  in 
uttering  some  words  of  my  own,  I  was  surprised  by 
drops  falling  upon  my  face.  They  were  my  mother's 
tears.  That  mother's  teaching  me  how  to  pray  has 
given  me  my  best  illustration  of  the  Holy  Spirit's 
influence  in  prayer.  When  we  know  not  what  to 
pray  for  as  we  ought,  he,  with  more  than  a  mother's 
skill  and  tenderness,  helps  our  infirmities,  and  makes 
intercession  within  us,  while  Christ  makes  interces- 
sion for  us  before  God's  throne.  All  effectual  prayer 
is  the  work  of  that  blessed  Spirit  in  the  heart, 
making  intercession  for  the  saints  according  to  the 
will  of  God.     Such  prayer  will  be  answered  because, 

When  God  inclines  the  heart  to  pray, 
He  hath  an  ear  to  hear. 

Hence  we  pray  for  the  spirit  of  prayer.  We  cry: 
"Quicken    us,    and    we    will    call    upon    thy    name " : 


PREVENIENT   GRACE  335 

"  Draw  us,  and  we  will  run  after  thee  " ;  and  God 
himself  says:  "Before  they  call  I  will  answer,  and 
while  they  are  yet  speaking  I  will  hear,"  because  his 
activity  goes  before  ours,  and  in  prayer  "  the  God  of 
my  mercy  prevents  me." 

In   Christian   ivork,   also,   God   goes  before.      We 
struggle  against  duty  and  decide  at  last  to  perform  it. 
We  do  what  ought  to  have  been  done  long  before,  and 
then  we  find  that  God  meets  us  more  than  half-way, 
and  overwhelms  us  with  the  abundance  of  the  blessing 
to  ourselves  and  to  others  which  the  doing  of  tliat 
one  little  act  occasions.     We  thought  our  hand  with- 
ered and  we  could  not  stretch  it  forth,  but  when  we 
obeyed  Christ's  command,  behold,  he  went  before  and 
gave  strength.     We  thought  ourselves  dumb  and  could 
not  speak,  but  when  we  broke  down  our  pride  and 
made  the  effort,  he  was  already  there  to  put  words  into 
our  mouths  and  joy  into  our  hearts.     We  learn  the 
meaning  of  the  Scripture:  "Thou  mcctcst  him  that 
rejoiceth   and  worketh   righteousness,"    and   we   con- 
clude that  not  we  ourselves,  but  he,  has  "  wrought  all 
our  works  in  us."     I  never  saw  a  work  of  grace  begin 
in    a   church   of   which    I    was   pastor,    without    first 
struggling  myself  with  some  question  of  duty,  usually 
the  duty  of  personally  going  to  some  one  whom  I 
very  much  disliked  to  address  and  talking  with  him 
about  his  soul's  salvation.     But  more  than  once  or 
twice  I  have  found,  when  I  conquered  my  unwilling- 
ness and  actually  went,  that  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
had  gone  before  me;  the  person  to  whom  I  spoke  was 
ready    for   my   coming,   yielded   to   Christ,    and   was 
followed  into  the  kingdom  of  God  by  many  others. 


336  MISCELLANIES 

Never  be  afraid  to  speak  or  work  for  Christ,  for  you 
can  always  say :  "  The  God  of  my  mercy  shah  pre- 
vent me  " — shall  go  before  me  to  make  my  word  and 
work  successful. 

But  now  take  yet  one  more  truth  contained  in  this 
text.  It  is  this :  The  dark  and  sorrowful  things  of  life 
are  signs  of  God's  going  before  us  to  prepare  our  tri- 
umph and  the  triumph  of  his  cause.  Change  is  neces- 
sary to  progress,  and  God  is  in  it.  This  is  true  of  the 
individual  Christian.  God  treats  us  as  the  mother  bird 
treats  her  eaglets ;  as  she  thrusts  them  out  from  the 
nest  to  teach  them  to  fly,  but  wlien  they  weary  and 
are  ready  to  fall  swoops  under  them  and  bears  them 
up,  so  God  pushes  us  out  from  our  places  of  quiet 
and  security,  to  teach  us  faith  in  him.  As  he  is  before 
us  to  permit  the  trial,  so  his  everlasting  arms  are 
under  us  to  prevent  the  trial  from  being  greater  than 
we  can  bear.  "  When  my  spirit  was  overwhelmed 
within  me,  then  thou  knewest  my  path." 

And  this  is  true  of  the  church  as  well  as  of  the  indi- 
vidual. Israel  in  every  age  has  had  to  reach  her  prom- 
ised land  through  many  sea-passages  and  wilderness- 
ways.  But  it  is  God  who  goes  before,  and  the  God  of 
Jacob  is  her  rearward.  As  the  people  of  God  in  the  old 
time  had  the  pillar  of  cloud  preceding  them  by  day 
and  the  blazing  column  of  fire  by  night,  so  Jehovah 
leads  his  church  to-day.  Christ  has  many  avanf- 
courriers.  Inventions  and  reforms,  pestilences  and 
wars,  popular  delusions  and  commercial  depressions, 
the  good  will  and  the  ill  will  of  kings,  persecutions 
and  revolutions,  failures  and  deaths,  all  prepare  the 
way  of  his  conquering  church.     Let  no  man  be  dis- 


PREVENIENT    GRACE  337 

couraged  at  the  corruptions  or  the  persecutions  that 
menace  her.  "  When  iniquity  shall  come  in  like  a 
flood,  then  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  set  up  a  stand- 
ard against  it."  God  is  not  far  away, —  he  is  here. 
In  the  very  weaving  of  their  web  of  villainy  God  will 
make  the  wicked  provide  for  its  disentanglement. 
"  The  wrath  of  man  he  will  make  to  praise  him,  and 
with  the  remainder  of  wrath  he  will  gird  himself," 
using  it  as  his  sword,  that  is,  he  will  make  the  very 
passions  of  his  enemies  subservient  to  his  purposes. 
And  as  for  his  people,  they  can  say  triumphantly: 
"  Righteousness  shall  go  before  him,  and  shall  set  us 
in  the  way  of  his  steps."  In  all  the  changes  of  this 
earthly  life,  the  God  of  my  mercy  shall  prevent  me, 
and  the  whole  universe,  so  far  as  it  is  merely  physical 
and  material,  shall  be  but  the  scaffolding  for  the  erec- 
tion of  his  spiritual  church. 

Let  us  remember  too,  that  as  change  is  necessary 
to  progress,  so  death  is  necessary  to  glory,  and  God 
is  in  the  death  of  the  righteous.  Precious  in  the  sight 
of  the  Lord  is  the  death  of  his  saints.  The  shepherd 
always  goes  before  his  sheep.  Christ  leads  through 
no  darker  paths  than  he  has  trod  before,  and  the 
Christian  can  walk  with  courage  even  through  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  provided  only  he  can 
say  that  "  he  leadeth  me."  At  the  end  of  one  of  the 
fiercest  battles  of  the  Franco-Prussian  war,  news  was 
brought  to  King  William  that  one  of  his  bravest  young 
officers,  a  man  of  noble  birth  and  great  promise,  was 
dying  of  a  gunshot  wound.  The  king  proceeded  to 
the  tent  where  he  lay  and  said  to  him :  "  My  dear  boy, 
I  trust  all  is  well  with  you."  The  young  man  raised 
w 


338  MISCELLANIES 

himself  with  his  last  breath  and  gave  the  military 
salute  with  the  words :  "  All  is  well  where  your  maj- 
esty leads !  "  Then  he  fell  back  a  corpse.  How  many 
soldiers  of  Christ  have  in  like  manner  said  in  dying: 
"All  is  well  where  Jesus  leads!"  To  them  death  is 
not  a  going  from,  but  a  going  to,  the  Lord.  He  him- 
self, who  has  gone  on  ahead  of  his  people  to  prepare 
for  them  a  place,  comes  at  death  to  take  them  to  be 
with  him  forever.  If  he  comes  to  take,  and  if  he  is 
with  us  in  the  departure,  we  may  be  sure  that  he  will 
be  there  to  receive.  The  Shepherd  who  led  us  here 
through  our  desert  journey  will  lead  us  there  by  the 
river  of  the  water  of  life.  We  shall  find  throughout 
eternity  that  he  ever  goes  before.  "  Eye  hath  not  seen, 
nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  the  heart  of  man, 
the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  who 
love  him."  Away  then  with  all  care  or  doubt  or  fear, 
either  in  our  own  deaths  or  in  the  deaths  of  those  we 
love.  "  When  I  awake,"  in  the  resurrection  morning, 
"  I  am  still  with  thee,"  for  on  earth  or  in  heaven,  in 
time  or  eternity,  the  word  will  still  hold  true  that 
"  the  God  of  my  mercy  shall  prevent  me,"  shall  go 
before  me  for  my  present  and  everlasting  good. 

Thus  the  text  presents  to  us  a  new  phase  of  God's 
omnipresence,  omniscience,  omnipotence.  Everywhere 
and  always  God  is  present,  God  anticipates,  God  pro- 
vides. "  Thou  hast  beset  me  behind  and  before," 
says  the  psalmist,  "  and  hast  laid  thy  hand  upon  me." 
If  that  hand  were  laid  upon  us  for  evil,  how  heavy 
the  hand  would  be!  But  it  is  only  for  good.  All 
these  attributes  of  God  are  engaged  on  the  side  of  the 
Christian.     It  is  these  very  attributes  that  compel  all 


PREVENIENT    GRACE  339 

things  to  work  together  for  good  to  those  who  love 
God.  How  great  the  possessions  of  the  Christian  who 
can  say :   "  O  God,  thou  art  my  God  !  " 

He  feeds  in  pastures  large  and  fair 

Of  love  and  truth  divine; 
O  child  of  God,  O  glory's  heir, 

How  rich  a  lot  is  thine ! 

Could  there  be  a  greater  motive  to  submission  and 
trust?  If  the  omnipresent,  omniscient,  and  omnipo- 
tent God  makes  all  things  in  the  universe  work  to- 
gether for  my  good,  should  I  not  esteem  it  my  greatest 
honor  and  joy  to  be  a  worker  together  with  him?  If 
God  is  willing  to  lead  me,  ought  I  not  to  be  willing  to 
follow?  May  God  help  us  here  and  now  to  give  our- 
selves unreservedly  to  him,  since  our  only  hope,  our 
only  joy,  our  only  salvation,  is  to  say  from  the  heart : 
"  The  God  of  my  mercy  shall  prevent  me." 


XLII 

THE  SUFFERING  AND  THE  BLESSED  GOD^ 

The  Christian  life  is  a  life  of  mingled  joy  and  sor- 
row, and  the  Christian  minister  must  know,  not  only 
the  joy  of  the  Lord,  but  also  the  fellowship  of  his 
sufferings.  It  is  well  for  the  pastor,  and  it  is  well 
for  his  people,  to  know  at  the  start  that  this  is  to 
be  expected,  because  this  is  the  natural  and  necessary 
result  of  sharing  in  the  life  of  God.  God's  life  is  a 
life  of  mingled  joy  and  sorrow.  I  wish  to  set  this 
truth  before  you ;  and  I  take  two  texts.  The  first  you 
will  find  in  Isa.  63 :  9 :  "  In  all  their  affliction  he  was 
afflicted,"  and  the  second  in  i  Tim.  i  :  11  :  "  The  glori- 
ous gospel  of  the  blessed  God." 

The  suffering,  and  yet  the  blessed,  God!  It  is  a 
strange  contrast,  and  even  a  seeming  contradiction. 
God  is  said  in  one  passage  to  be  afflicted,  and  in 
another  to  be  blessed.  The  two  texts  are  only  repre- 
sentatives of  many  others  which  might  be  cited.  On 
the  one  hand  we  read  that  God  repented  that  he  had 
made  man  and  it  grieved  him  at  his  heart.  On  the 
other  hand  he  is  said  to  be  God  over  all,  blessed  for- 
ever. It  is  no  wonder  that  theologians,  in  their  con- 
sideration of  these  passages,  have  been  perplexed  and 
divided.     Some  have  thought  that  the  very  perfection 

^  A   sermon    preached   at   the    ordination    of    William    Gaylord    James,    as 
pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church,  Fort  Plain,  N.  Y.,  June  27,  1902. 


THE    SUFFERING    AND    THE    BLESSED    GOD  34 1 

of  God  required  them  to  maintain  that  God  cannot 
suffer.  Others  have  held  that  a  God  who  cannot 
suffer  must  be  destitute  of  feehng,  and  so  cannot  be 
God  at  all.  The  Scripture  seems  to  teach  that  God 
can  and  does  suffer,  and  yet  that  in,  and  on  account 
of,  that  very  suffering,  God  is  blessed.  Let  us  try  to 
get  the  elements  of  the  problem  before  us,  and  then 
to  learn  the  lessons  of  doctrine  and  practice  which  it 
teaches  us. 

First,  then,  God  must  suft'er,  or  else  he  must  be 
without  holiness  and  without  love.  But  God  is  holy, 
and  his  holiness  involves  a  profound  desire  that  his 
creatures  should  be  holy  as  he  is  holy.  The  urgency 
of  his  law,  and  the  inevitableness  of  the  misery  that 
follows  the  violation  of  that  law.  show  that  this  desire 
is  fundamental  to  God's  being.  He  cannot  look  upon 
sin  with  allowance ;  nay.  he  is  angry  with  the  wicked 
every  day.  And  that  hatred  to  sin  involves  suffering. 
Henry  Drummond,  in  his  evangelistic  meetings,  drew 
all  hearts  to  him.  Great  transgressors  told  him  the 
dreadful  secrets  of  their  lives.  He  was  appalled  at 
their  confessions,  and  one  day  he  said :  "  I  am  sick 
of  the  sins  of  these  men, — how  can  God  bear  it?" 
Ah,  yes,  how  can  the  Holy  One  bear  it?  If  Henry 
Drummond  suffered  when  he  learned  the  sins  of  a 
few%  can  God  fail  to  suffer,  when  he  has  spread  before 
him  continually  the  sins  of  all? 

But  God  is  not  only  holiness,  he  is  also  love.  And 
love  does  not  make  others  a  mere  appendage  to  itself. 
It  rather  merges  itself  in  their  interest  and  happiness. 
It  rejoices  in  their  joy ;  it  w^eeps  with  their  sorrow. 
Love  is  impossible  without  sympathy ;  and  sympathy, 


342  MISCELLANIES 

as  the  etymology  of  the  word  indicates,  is  a  suffering 
with  others.  Love  is  impossible  without  sacrifice — 
the  giving  up  of  our  pleasure  for  others'  good,  and 
sacrifice  means  some  measure  at  least  of  suffering. 
We  do  not  regard  an  unsympathetic  man  as  worthy  of 
admiration.  It  is  the  man  of  tender  heart,  of  broad 
affections,  of  self-sacrificing  nature,  that  best  answers 
to  our  idea  of  humanity.  And  shall  we  think  that  God 
is  less  compassionate  than  man,  that  he  in  whose 
image  we  are  made  feels  less  than  we  the  sorrows  and 
griefs  of  his  creatures? 

I  know  that  it  is  hard  for  us  to  realize  that  God's 
greatness  is  consistent  with  suffering.  Can  one  so 
powerful  and  so  wise  feel  deeply  for  creatures  so 
weak  and  insignificant  as  we?  Well,  what  is  our 
verdict  with  regard  to  human  beings?  Can  a  man 
who  is  truly  great  be  moved  by  the  sufferings  of  a 
little  child?  Do  we  not  see  that  his  abihty  to  feel 
is  the  very  measure  of  his  greatness,  and  that  in- 
ability to  feel  is  his  shame  and  degradation?  And 
yet  there  have  been  teachers  of  doctrine  to  declare 
that  the  greatness  of  God  requires  him  to  be  impas- 
sive, unaffected  by  our  earthly  trials  or  our  earthly 
sins,  and  they  have  spoken  of  him  as  if  he  were  an 
Egyptian  sphinx  with  face  of  stony  calm,  or  an  arctic 
iceberg  with   glittering  sides  but   frozen   heart. 

Tennyson  describes  the  Lotus  Eaters  as  longing 
for  the  immovable  quiet  of  the  gods : 

Let  us  swear  an  oath,  and  keep  it  with  an  equal  mind, 
In  the  hollow  Lotus-land  to  live  and  lie  reclined 
On  the  hills  like  gods  together,  careless  of  mankind. 
For  they  lie  beside  their  nectar,  and  the  bolts  are  hurled 


THE    SUFFERING    AND    THE    BLESSED    GOD  343 

Far  below  them  in  the  valleys,  and  the  clouds  are  lightly  curled 
Round  their  golden  houses,  girdled  with  the  gleaming  world; 
Where  they  smile  in  secret,  looking  over  wasted  lands, 
Blight  and  famine,  plague  and  earthquake,  roaring  deeps  and  fiery 

sands, 
Clanging  fights,  and  flaming  towns,  and  sinking  ships,  and  praying 

hands. 

And  Goethe  gives  us  a  similar  picture  in  his  "  Song 
of  the  Fates  " : 

The  gods  be  your  terror, 
Ye  children  of  men; 
They  hold  the  dominion 
In  hands  everlasting, 
All  free  to  exert  it 
As  listeth  their  will. 

Let  him  fear  them  doubly 
Whom  e'er  they've  exalted! 
On  crags  and   on  cloud-piles 
The  seats  are  made  ready 
Around  the  gold  tables. 

Dissension  arises: 

Then  tumble  the  fcasters 

Reviled  and  dishonored 

To  gulfs  of  deep  midnight; 

And  look  ever  vainly 

In  fetters  of  darkness 

For  judgment  that's  just. 

But  they  remain  seated 

At  feasts  never-failing 

Around  the  gold  tables. 

They  stride  at  a  footstep 

From  mountain  to  mountain; 

Through  jaws  of  abysses 

Steams  toward  them  the  breathing 

Of  suffocate  Titans, 

Like  offerings  of  incense, 

A  light-rising  vapor. 


344  MISCELLANIES 

They  turn,  the  proud  masters, 
From  whole  generations 
The  eye  of  their  blessing: 
Nor  will  in  the  children 
The  once  well-beloved 
Still  eloquent  features 
Of  ancestor  see. 

Thank  God,  this  is  heathenism  and  not  Christian- 
ity. And  yet  this  heathenism  is  the  natural  thought 
of  the  soul  that  is  alienated  from  God  by  its  sin.  It 
sees  its  own  hard  heart  in  the  Godhead;  because  it 
has  lost  the  spirit  of  God  it  cannot  believe  either  in 
the  holiness  or  in  the  love  of  the  Father.  One  might 
almost  say  that  God's  whole  revelation  is  one  long 
and  elaborate  effort  to  correct  this  error,  and  to  con- 
vince men  that  he  is  pure,  yet  of  tender  mercy.  The 
grief  and  anger  which  are  ascribed  to  him  in  view  of 
human  sin,  together  with  the  sorrow  and  compassion 
which  are  caused  by  human  suffering,  are  proofs  that 
his  greatness  is  greatness  of  holiness  and  greatness  of 
love.  When  we  are  told  that  he  spared  not  his  own 
Son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us  all,  words  are  used 
which  imply  that  God  suffered  in  giving  up  his  Son 
just  as  Abraham  suffered  in  giving  up  Isaac  on  Mount 
Moriah.  When  we  are  entreated  to  grieve  not  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God,  we  are  taught  that  God's  heart 
is  wounded  by  our  affronts  and  our  neglects,  as  truly 
as  a  mother's  heart  is  wounded  by  the  disobedience 
of  her  child. 

And  yet,  as  if  to  remove  the  last  lingering  doubt 
that  God  can  suffer,  God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh. 
Jesus  Christ,  in  his  sorrow  and  sympathy,  his  tears 
and  his  agony,  is  the  revealer  of  God's  feelings  to- 


THE    SUFFERING    AND    THE    BLESSED    GOD  345 

ward  the  race.  "  He  that  hath  seen  me,"  says  the 
Lord,  "hath  seen  the  Father:  how  sayest  thou  then, 
Show  US  the  Father?"  When  we  see  Jesus  grieved 
at  the  hardness  of  men's  hearts,  pained  at  their  slow- 
ness of  understanding,  angered  by  their  hypocrisy, 
distressed  by  their  selfishness,  revolting  from  their 
impurity,  heart-broken  by  their  ingratitude,  we  have 
a  vivid  picture  of  the  feelings  of  God's  heart.  His 
groaning  when  he  opened  the  ears  of  the  deaf  man, 
and  his  weeping  at  Lazarus'  tomb  even  when  he  was 
about  to  raise  him  from  the  dead,  show  us  how  God 
sympathizes  with  human  suffering,  and  sorrows  over 
human  sin.  As  we  cannot  conceive  of  love  without 
self-sacrifice,  or  of  self-sacrifice  without  suffering, 
Jesus'  self-sacrifice  and  Jesus'  sufferings  are  simply 
a  revelation  of  the  self-sacrifice  and  suffering  of  God. 
But  now  we  come  to  a  second  truth  which  is  even 
more  strange  and  mysterious  than  this  one  that  God 
can  suffer.  It  is  this:  "If  God  suffers,  then  he  must 
suffer  infinitely,  for  he  is  one  with  his  whole  crea- 
tion." The  amount  of  one's  sympathetic  suffering 
depends  upon  the  greatness  of  one's  being  and  upon 
one's  nearness  to  those  who  suffer.  The  ox  can  see 
its  fellow  writhing  in  pain,  yet  go  on  cropping  the 
grass  with  perfect  unconcern.  The  little  child  can  play 
with  its  toys  while  its  mother  is  dying,  and  only  now 
and  then  is  it  moved  to  thoughtfulness  and  tears.  Our 
capacity  for  suffering  is  exactly  proportioned  to  our 
maturity  and  to  the  breadth  of  our  being.  Christ 
could  suffer  as  none  of  us  can.  because  his  was  the 
large  and  sensitive  and  unselfish  heart  that  could  feel 
the  woes  of  others  as  his  own.     His  purity  made  him 


346  MISCELLANIES 

alive  to  every  breath  of  evil;  his  tenderness  turned 
every  slight  into  a  blow ;  and  every  blow  struck  him 
to  the  heart. 

If  Christ  then  is  the  image  of  God,  and  God  is  in- 
finite holiness  and  infinite  love,  must  not  God's  suffer- 
ing itself  be  infinite?  Our  fathers  used  to  escape 
this  conclusion  by  picturing  God  as  disassociated  from 
his  universe.  They  held  to  a  sort  of  deism,  which 
removed  him  from  the  things  he  had  made.  As  Car- 
lyle  said,  he  was  "  an  absentee  God,  sitting  idle  ever 
since  the  first  Sabbath,  at  the  outside  of  the  universe, 
and  seeing  it  go."  But  we  have  gotten  beyond  all  this, 
and  we  believe  in  an  immanent  God,  who  is  not  simply 
beyond  the  stars,  but  also  in  all  worlds  and  in  all 
spirits,  himself  the  force  of  all  forces  and  the  life 
of  all  lives.  He  is  omnipresent,  and  in  him  we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  being.  He  scans  every  event  and 
every  thought,  every  evil  desire  and  evil  deed,  for  he 
is  present  at  its  inception  and  at  its  execution.  He 
knows  the  sorrow  of  every  mourner,  for  he  who  made 
the  heart  to  feel  these  depths  of  loneliness  and  anguish 
is  in  the  heart  to  witness  all  its  prayers  of  grief 
and  desolation.  "  Surely  he  hath  borne  our  griefs 
and  carried  our  sorrows  "  (Isa.  53  :  4).  "  And  he  bare 
them  and  carried  them  all  the  days  of  old  "  (Isa. 
63:9).  No  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground  without  our 
Father,  and  precious  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  is  the 
death  of  his  saints. 

A  newly  converted  heathen,  when  he  told  his  ex- 
perience, said  the  thought  of  his  past  life  made  him 
pity  God!  Was  there  not  a  great  truth  there?  God 
made  a  world  of  beauty.     Man  has  ravaged  the  fields 


THE    SUFFERING    AND    THE    BLESSED    GOD  347 

and  turned  them  into  deserts.  God  has  been  hurt 
by  this  spoiling  of  the  work  of  his  hands.  How  many 
swTet  infantile  lives  open  their  petals  like  flowers, 
only  to  be  plucked  and  defiled  by  human  passion  and 
sin !  God  has  had  to  stand  silently  by,  feeling  every 
attack  upon  the  purity  of  his  creatures  like  a  stab  at 
his  own  heart.  Do  we  think  that  Indian  famines  and 
Chinese  massacres  cause  no  suffering  to  him?  Ah, 
we  feel  only  a  little  because  we  see  only  a  little.  God 
feels  all  because  he  sees  all,  and  what  he  feels  he  feels 
with  all  his  heart — a  heart  of  infinite  hatred  for  the 
wrong,  and  of  infinite  pity  for  the  wronged. 

It  has  been  a  hard  task  to  teach  us  the  greatness 
of  the  suffering  of  God,  but  there  are  two  ways  in 
which  our  finite  minds  are  enabled  in  some  degree  to 
take  it  in.  One  is  that  of  the  incarnate  Christ. 
Gethsemane  and  Calvary  teach  us  how  great  is  God's 
suffering,  for  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world 
unto  himself,  and  he  that  hath  seen  Christ  hath  seen 
the  Father.  In  the  garden  Jesus  came  in  contact 
with  human  sin;  before  his  imagination  there  rose 
the  dreadful  spectacle  of  a  humanity  alienated  from 
God.  As  you  abhor  dirt,  lust,  hypocrisy,  cruelty, 
so  Christ  abhorred  sin.  Yet  this  sin  had  ravaged 
God's  dominions  and  had  taken  captive  his  noblest 
children.  Can  a  father  see  his  daughter  the  victim 
of  a  betrayer,  lost  to  purity,  and  going  down  to  death, 
without  shame  and  agony  that  blanch  the  hair  and 
paralyze  the  heart?  Christ  saw  ten  thousand  cases 
like  that;  aye,  the  whole  mass  and  weight  of  the 
world's  sin  and  sorrow  fell  upon  him,  till  not  only 
beads  of  sweat  stood  upon  his  brow,  but  the  very  blood 


348  MISCELLANIES 

was  forced  through  the  pores  and  fell  in  great  drops 
to  the  ground  in  the  intensity  of  his  suffering.  All 
this,  with  the  darkened  heavens  and  the  dying  agony 
and  the  broken  heart  of  the  cross — these  were  not 
simply  Christ's  sufferings — they  were  God's  also — 
and  the  apostle  does  not  hesitate  to  speak  of  the  church 
of  God  which  he  purchased  with  his  own  blood,  for 
Christ's  blood  was  the  very  blood  of  God. 

The  other  way  in  which  he  teaches  us  is  that  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  The  groanings  that  cannot  be  ut- 
tered, with  which  at  times  he  fills  the  breast  of  the 
Christian,  are  simply  an  overflow  into  him  of  the 
sorrow  of  God's  heart  over  the  sin  and  misery  of  the 
world.  It  is  not  in  our  moments  of  joy,  but  in  our 
moments  of  sorrow,  that  God  comes  nearest  to  us. 
We  enter  into  closest  reunion  with  him  when  we 
know  the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings — his  infinite 
sufferings  on  account  of  human  wickedness  and 
calamity. 

O  Thou,  that  from  eternity 
Upon  thy  wounded  heart  hast  borne 

Each  pang  and  cry  of  misery 

Wherewith  our  human  hearts  are  torn, 

Thy  love  upon  the  grievous  cross 
Doth  glow,  the  beacon  light  of  time; 

Forever  sharing  pain  and  loss 
With  every  man  in  every  clime. 

How  vast,  how  vast  thy  sacrifice, 

As  ages  come  and  ages  go. 
Still  waiting  till  it  shall  suffice 

To  draw  the  last  cold  heart  and  slow ! 

God  is  passible,  or  capable  of  suffering;  that  is  the 
first  truth.     God  suffers  in  proportion  to  the  breadth 


THE    SUFFERING    AND    THE    BLESSED    GOD  349 

of  his  being  and  his  nearness  to  his  creatures;  that 
is  the  second  truth.  And  now  recurs  our  problem, 
how  can  such  suffering  consist  with  his  blessedness? 
The  answer  is  the  third  truth  which  I  would  incul- 
cate:  God  is  the  ever-blessed  God,  because  this  suf- 
fering is  the  condition  of  joy  and  is  swallowed  up  in 
joy.  Difficult  as  is  this  relation,  I  think  we  can  to 
some  extent  understand  it.  Let  us  remember  that 
even  suffering  may  be  borne  joyfully,  if  it  is  the  fit 
thing  in  its  time  and  place.  I  may  enter  into  the 
suffering  of  a  convicted  sinner,  and  yet  be  glad  be- 
cause at  last  he  sees  his  sins  as  they  are.  In  all  sym- 
pathy there  is  joy,  because  it  is  fit  that  I  should  rejoice 
with  those  who  do  rejoice  and  should  weep  with  those 
who  weep.  If  I  did  not  sorrow  with  the  sorrowing,  and 
mourn  over  men  that  are  lost,  I  should  feel  myself 
less  than  a  man.  Not  the  suffering,  but  the  not  suffer- 
ing, should  cause  me  pain.  So  God's  recognition  of 
need  and  his  response  to  it,  while  they  bring  sorrow, 
bring  also  joy — the  joy  of  fitness,  of  congruity,  of 
right.  Let  us  remember  too,  that  God  sees,  as  we  can- 
not, how  all  this  sorrow  and  sin  is  part  of  a  far- 
reaching  plan  of  infinite  wisdom,  in  which  all  things 
work  together  for  ultimate  good.  If  even  a  child  can 
submit  to  a  surgical  operation  gladly,  for  the  sake  of 
the  health  that  will  accrue ;  if  the  patriot  can  endure 
exile  for  liberty  and  country;  if  the  martyr  can  find 
the  fires  of  the  stake  a  bed  of  roses — surely  He  who 
sees  the  end  from  the  beginning  can  endure  suffer- 
ing for  the  sake  of  what  is  to  come  thereby.  Here 
too.  the  key  to  the  mystery  is  furnished  by  our  Lord 
himself,  who  in  prospect  of  his  sufferings  rejoiced  in 


350  MISCELLANIES 

spirit,  and  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him  endured 
the  cross.  The  reason  why  we  do  not  always  rejoice 
in  tribulations  is  that  our  weak  faith  loses  sight  of 
God's  plan  and  of  the  goal  to  which  he  is  leading  us. 
God  himself  never  loses  sight  of  these.  We  are 
involved  in  the  smoke  and  dust  of  the  battle;  the  great 
Commander  occupies  a  vantage-ground  from  which  he 
can  observe  the  whole  field  and  can  seize  the  triumph 
from  afar.  He  is  the  God  of  hope,  and  he  lives  in 
constant  expectation  of  the  day  when  his  enemies 
shall  be  made  the  footstool  of  his  feet. 

God  is  infinitely  greater  than  his  creation,  and  he 
sees  all  human  wickedness  and  woe  as  a  part  of  his 
great  plan.  His  suffering  in  and  with  his  creation 
has  been  all  foreseen  and  undertaken,  for  good  and 
sufficient  reasons,  before  the  world  began.  If  suf- 
fering limits  God  at  all,  it  is  not  a  limitation  from 
without,  but  only  a  self-limitation  of  love.  We  are 
entitled  to  attribute  to  him  only  such  passibleness  as 
is  consistent  with  perfection,  only  such  suffering  as 
is  consistent  with  a  higher  joy.  In  combining  pas- 
sibleness with  blessedness  we  must  permit  blessedness 
to  be  the  controlling  factor,  for  our  fundamental 
idea  of  God  is  that  of  absolute  perfection.  Martensen 
expresses  the  truth  in  these  words :  "  This  limitation 
is  swallowed  up  in  the  inner  life  of  perfection  which 
God  lives,  in  total  independence  of  his  creation,  and 
in  triumphant  prospect  of  the  fulfilment  of  his  great 
designs."  We  may  therefore  say  with  the  old  theo- 
sophic  writers :  "  In  the  outer  chambers  is  sadness, 
but  in  the  inner  chambers  is  unmixed  joy." 

There  was  a  famous  Greek  fire  which  burned  under 


THE    SUFFERING    AND    THE    BLESSED   GOD         35 1 

water.  So  there  is  a  blessedness,  not  simply  in  spite 
of  sorrow,  but  in  sorrow  and  because  of  sorrow. 
Sorrow  dominated  by  faith  becomes  joy.  In  Geth- 
semane  when  Christ  said,  ''  Not  my  will,  but  thine,  be 
done,"  angels  came  and  ministered  to  him.  On  the 
cross  the  saddest  words  ever  spoken  on  earth,  "  My 
God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  "  were 
followed  by  the  most  exultant,  "  It  is  finished!  "  And 
Christian  experience  in  its  measure  repeats  the  expe- 
rience of  Christ. 

Many  years  ago,  in  the  church  of  which  I  was  then 
pastor  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  there  was  a  lady  whom  the 
whole  city  knew  as  "  Mother  Rouse."  Mrs.  Rouse 
was  an  extraordinary  woman.  Small,  wiry,  and  ac- 
tive, she  had  intellect,  insight,  judgment,  calmness, 
decision,  together  with  executive  and  administrative 
ability  of  the  very  first  order.  She  could  have  made 
a  good  manager  of  a  great  railway,  and  she  could 
have  commanded  a  battleship.  During  our  Civil  War, 
she  had  been  president  of  our  Sanitary  Commission 
for  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  had  organized  the  women 
of  the  State  for  the  purpose  of  sending  nurses  and 
hospital  supplies  to  the  front.  Her  face  is  now  per- 
petuated in  bronze  in  the  noble  monument  erected  in 
Cleveland  to  the  heroes  and  heroines  of  our  great 
struggle  for  national  unity  and  freedom.  No  one  in 
the  whole  State  did  more  for  our  Union  soldiers  than 
did  she.  When  the  war  was  over  and  she  no  longer 
had  the  sick  and  wounded  to  care  for  she  gave  her 
thoughts  and  energies  once  more  to  the  church  and 
to  the  saving  of  souls. 

She  had   a  marvelous   intensity   of    feeling,   yet   a 


352  MISCELLANIES 

marvelous  self-control  in  the  expression  of  it.  In 
prayer  meeting,  when  she  rose  to  speak  there  was  a 
breathless  silence,  for  Mother  Rouse  would  put  more 
into  five  minutes  than  most  people  could  put  into  an 
hour.  Two  months  after  I  had  begun  my  work,  in  a 
crowded  evening  meeting.  Mrs.  Rouse  arose.  There 
was  evidently  a  burden  upon  her  heart.  With  burn- 
ing words,  she  told  of  a  struggle  and  agony  she  had 
been  enduring  in  prayer.  She  spoke  of  her  distress 
for  the  church,  and  her  anxiety  for  the  unconverted, 
in  a  way  that  seemed  almost  like  a  voice  from  another 
world.  I  could  only  think  of  the  suffering  of  Christ 
in  the  garden.  But  suddenly,  in  the  very  midst  of  this 
description  of  her  spiritual  anguish  for  sinners,  her 
countenance  lighted  up,  her  voice  changed,  and  she 
continued :  "  But  I  have  never  before  come  so  near  to 
Jesus;  never  yet  have  had  such  joy;  my  soul  has  been 
full  to  overflowing  of  the  glory  and  the  peace  of 
God !  "  Do  you  wonder  that  a  revival  of  religion  fol- 
lowed, in  which  more  than  a  hundred  were  brought 
to  Christ  and  united  with  the  church?  Suffering  and 
joy  went  together.  God  had  imparted  to  her  some- 
thing of  his  feeling.  God  is  not  impassible ;  he  can 
suffer  and  does  suffer  infinitely  for  the  sins  of  his 
creatures ;  yet  this  suffering  on  account  of  sin  is  con- 
sistent with  his  blessedness,  nay,  is  turned  into  a  con- 
dition and  means  of  blessedness.  As  Christ  was 
anointed  with  the  oil  of  joy  above  his  fellows  even 
when  he  was  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief,  so  of  the  divine  nature  it  may  be  said : 

Though   round   its   base   the   rolling  clouds   are   spread, 
Eternal  sunshine  settles  on  its  head. 


THE    SUFFERING    AND    THE    BLESSED   GOD         353 

But  I  would  not  leave  the  subject  here.  There  are 
two  applications  of  it  which  are  of  vast  importance 
to  us.  On  the  one  hand  it  frees  us  from  a  dogmatic 
doubt,  and  on  the  other  hand  it  delivers  us  from  an 
ethical  error.  In  Miss  Fowler's  story  of  the  Farring- 
tons  we  have  the  dogmatic  doubt  suggested.  Alan 
Tremaine  criticizes  the  whole  scheme  of  Christianity, 
because  it  attributes  to  a  personal  God  the  creation  of 
a  world  so  full  of  suffering  and  of  sin,  and  because 
it  bows  down  before  a  suffering  Deity  who  is  stricken 
and  crucified  in  order  to  save  it.  Have  we  not  already 
seen  the  answer  to  this  problem  and  found  relief  from 
this  doubt?  God  is  love,  and  he  has  not  willingly 
grieved  and  afflicted  the  children  of  men.  He  has 
made  them  free,  only  with  a  view  to  their  becoming 
holy  and  blessed.  He  could  not  make  them  free  with- 
out the  possibility  of  a  fall.  Their  fall  and  misery  has 
brought  more  sorrow  to  him  than  it  has  ever  caused 
to  them,  for  the  infinite  One  can  truly  say:  "  Behold, 
and  see  if  there  be  any  sorrow  like  unto  my  sorrow." 

I  am  glad  to  quote  a  great  Roman  Catholic  theo- 
logian here.  "What?"  asks  the  Abbe  Gratry,  "do 
you  really  suppose  that  the  personal  God,  free  and 
intelligent,  loving  and  good,  who  knows  every  detail 
of  human  torture  and  hears  every  sigh,  this  God  who 
sees,  who  loves,  as  we  do  and  more  than  we  do,  do 
you  believe  that  he  is  present  and  looks  pitilessly  on 
what  breaks  your  heart,  on  what  to  him  must  be  the 
spectacle  of  Satan  reveling  in  the  blood  of  humanity? 
History  teaches  that  men  so  feel  for  sufferers  that 
they  have  been  drawn  to  die  with  them,  so  that  the 
very  executioners  have  become  the  next  martyrs.    And 

X 


354  MISCELLANIES 

will  you  represent  God,  the  absolute  goodness,  as  alone 
impassible?  Ah,  it  is  here  that  our  evangelical  faith 
comes  in,  .  .  Here  is  the  true  God.  He  has  suf- 
fered from  the  beginning  in  all  who  have  suffered. 
He  has  been  hungry  in  all  who  have  hungered.  He 
has  been  immolated  in  all  and  with  all — the  Lamb  slain 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  The  suffering 
God  answers  all  the  doubts  that  arise  at  the  sight  of 
human  suffering.  To  know  that  God  is  suffering  in 
it  makes  that  suffering  more  awful,  but  it  gives 
strength,  and  life,  and  hope,  for  we  know  that,  if 
God  is  in  it,  suffering  is  the  road  to  victory,  and  that, 
if  he  shares  our  suffering,  we  shall  share  his  joy  and 
his  crown."  And  Professor  Royce  says:  "When 
you  suffer,  your  sufferings  are  God's  sufferings — not 
his  external  work,  not  his  external  penalty,  not  the 
fruit  of  his  neglect,  but  identically  his  own  personal 
woe.  In  you  God  himself  suffers  precisely  as  you  do, 
and  has  all  your  concern  in  overcoming  this  grief." 
H  God  has  suffered  from  the  beginning  in  all  human 
suffering  and  on  account  of  all  human  sin,  then  it  is 
only  to  be  expected  that  in  Christ,  who  is  God  mani- 
fest in  the  flesh,  that  suffering  of  God  should  be  mani- 
fested. Holy  love  necessarily  renders  Christ  a  suf- 
fering Saviour.  His  suffering  is  due  to  holiness, 
which  joins  sin  and  suffering  indissolubly  together, 
but  it  is  borne  by  love,  that  cannot  and  will  not  sepa- 
rate itself  from  the  sinners.  In  a  world  of  sin,  only 
a  suffering  Christ  would  be  a  divine  Christ;  for  the 
very  fact  that  he  is  strong  makes  him  ready  to  bear 
the  burdens  of  the  weak.  When  Peter  would  keep  the 
Saviour    from    the    cross,    Jesus    replies :    "  Get    thee 


THE  SUFFERING  AND  THE   BLESSED  GOD  355 

behind  nic,  Satan";  and,  just  as  he  is  entering  upon 
his  passi(jn,  he  speaks  of  his  elevation  upon  that  same 
cross  as  a  "  Hfting  up."  The  whole  principle  of  the 
atonement  is  here.  There  is  nothing  arbitrary  about 
it.  It  is  inwrought  into  the  very  constitution  of  the 
universe,  for  love  cannot  help  bearing  with  and  for 
the  sinner  the  suffering  which  holiness  has  appointed 
for  sin's  penalty.  And  the  cross  is  simply  the  focus- 
ing, the  picturing,  and  the  demonstrating,  of  this  age- 
long suffering  of  God.  It  shows  men  the  feeling  of 
God's  heart  toward  sin;  it  leads  men  to  hate  the  sin 
that  has  brought  death  to  his  only  Son ;  it  draws  men 
to  love  and  obey  him  who  was  thus  lifted  up  for  their 
salvation;  for  the  suffering  of  God  in  Christ  is  not 
simply  penal, — it  is  also  redemptive,  and  we  can  say 
with  the  psalmist  (68:  19)  :  '*  Blessed  be  the  Lord,  who 
daily  beareth  our  burden,  even  the  God  who  is  our 
salvation." 

As  I  have  quoted  from  a  Roman  Catholic  writer, 
let  me  also  quote  from  a  Protestant,  Professor  Bowne 
of  the  Boston  University.  His  words  are  these: 
"  Something  like  this  work  of  grace  was  a  moral 
necessity  with  God.  It  was  an  awful  responsibility 
that  was  taken  when  our  human  race  was  launched 
with  its  fearful  possibilities  of  good  and  evil.  God 
thereby  put  himself  under  infinite  obligation  to  care 
for  his  human  family ;  and  reflection  on  his  position 
as  Creator  and  Ruler,  instead  of  removing,  only  make 
more  manifest  this  obligation.  So  long  as  we  con- 
ceive God  as  sitting  apart  in  supreme  ease  and  self- 
satisfaction,  he  is  not  love  at  all.  but  only  a  reflex 
of  our  own  selfishness  and  vulgarity.     So  long  as  we 


356  MISCELLANIES 

conceive  him  as  bestowing  blessing  upon  us  out  of  his 
infinite  fuhiess,  but  at  no  real  cost  to  himself,  he  sinks 
below  the  moral  heroes  of  our  race.  There  is  ever  a 
higher  thought  possible,  until  we  see  God  taking  the 
world  upon  his  heart,  entering  the  fellowship  of  our 
sorrow,  and  becoming  the  supreme  burden-bearer  and 
leader  of  all  in  self-sacrifice.  Then  only  are  the  pos- 
sibilities of  grace  and  condescension  and  love  and 
moral  heroism  filled  up,  so  that  nothing  higher  re- 
mains. And  the  work  of  Christ  himself,  so  far  as  it 
was  an  historical  event,  must  be  viewed,  not  merely  as 
a  piece  of  history,  but  also  as  a  manifestation  of  that 
cross  which  was  hidden  in  the  divine  love  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  and  which  is  not  involved  in 
the  existence  of  the  human  world  at  all." 

God's  suffering  frees  us  from  an  ethical  error,  as 
well  as  from  a  dogmatic  doubt.  The  error  is  that  of 
fancying  that  we  have  no  suffering  to  undergo,  and 
no  cross  to  bear.  We  naturally  shrink  from  suffering, 
and  think  it  inconsistent  with  blessedness.  We  seek 
pleasure  only,  and  struggle  against  pain.  But  the 
life  that  has  in  it  no  sympathy  with  others'  wants, 
and  feels  no  pain  on  account  of  others'  sins,  is  a 
very  ignoble  life,  it  is  not  the  Christian  life.  We 
cannot  be  Christians  without  filling  up  that  which  is 
behind  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ.  For  Christ's  suf- 
ferings are  not  over.  So  long  as  there  is  one  sheep 
lost  on  the  mountains  far  away,  the  heart  of  the  ten- 
der Shepherd  grieves  over  its  wanderings,  and  will 
grieve,  until  he  finds  it  and  brings  it  back.  And  the 
saints  of  God  will  know  the  fellowship  of  Christ's 
sufferings  and  will   share  in  his  efforts  to  save  the 


THE    SUFFERING    AND    THE    BLESSED    GOD  357 

lost.      As   only   a   suffering   Christ   could   reflect   the 
Father,  so  only  a  suffering  Christian  can  reflect  Christ. 
Here  is  one  reason  for  affliction — it  opens  our  hearts 
to  perceive  the  sorrow  and  the  sin  of  the  world,  in 
order  that  we  may  comfort  others  with  the  comfort 
with  which  we  ourselves  have  been  comforted  by  God. 
"  Think  it  not  strange  then  concerning  the  fiery  trial 
which  is  to  try  you,  as  though  some  strange  thing  hap- 
pened unto  you;  but  rejoice,  inasmuch  as  ye  are  par- 
takers of  Christ's  sufferings,  that  when  his  glory  shall 
be  revealed,  ye  may  be  glad  also  with  exceeding  joy." 
May  I  not  urge  this  suffering  of  God  on  account  of  sin 
as  a  motive  to  prompt  every  one  of  us  to  flee  from 
sin?    God  feels  my  sin,  my  neglects,  my  unbelief,  my 
lovelessness,   my  indifference,  and   it  grieves  him  at 
his  heart.    He  has  felt  every  one  of  our  transgressions 
as  a  blow.     And  yet  his  love  has  followed  us,  and  he 
desires  our  return.     His  suffering  is  the  suffering  of 
wounded  love,  as  well  as  the  suffering  of  violated  holi- 
ness.    "How  shall  I  give  thee  up,  O  Ephraim!"  is 
the  expression   of  his   sorrows,   as  he  thinks  of  the 
possible    end.      Forbear,    my    friend,    to    grieve    God 
longer.     Come  out  from  isolation,  and  join  yourself 
to  him  who  loves  you.     Give  up  the  narrow  and  un- 
worthy life  of   selfishness,   and   enter  into  the  large 
sympathy  of  the  heavenly  Father.     Be  willing  to  share 
the  sorrows  of  the  Redeemer,  and  so  to  connect  your- 
self with  his  great  plan  of  saving  men  and  of  estab- 
lishing the  kingdom  of  God.     So  shall  you  have  the 
highest  joy  this  world  can  give!    and,  when  aflhction 
comes,  you  shall  know  that  in  all  your  affliction  he  is 
afflicted,  and  that  the  angel  of  his  presence  saves  you. 


358  MISCELLANIES 

For  the  only  real  blessedness  of  mortal  man  is  to 
share  in  the  blessedness  of  God,  the  blessedness  that 
is  consistent  with,  and  that  triumphs  over,  suffering. 

0  Love,  that  will  not  let  me  go, 
I  rest  my  weary  soul  in  thee; 

1  give  thee  back  the  life  I  owe, 
That  in  thine  ocean  depths  its  flow 

May  richer,  fuller  be. 

O  Light,  that  followest  all  my  way, 
I  yield  my  flickering  torch  to  thee ; 
My  heart  restores  its  borrowed  ray, 
That  in  thy  sunshine's  blaze  its  day 
May  brighter,  fairer  be. 

0  Joy,  that  seekest  me  through  pain, 
I  cannot  close  my  heart  to  thee ; 

1  trace  the  rainbow  through  the  rain, 
And  feel  the  promise  is  not  vain 

That  morn  shall  tearless  be. 

0  Cross,  that  liftest  up  my  head, 

I  dare  not  ask  to  fly  from  thee; 

1  lay  in  dust  life's  glory  dead. 

And  from  the  ground  there  blossoms  red 
Life  that  shall  endless  be 


XLIII 
UNCONSCIOUSNESS  OF  SIN 


Who  can  understand  his  errors?  Cleanse  thou  me  from  secret 
faults.     (Ps.  19: 12.) 

The  doctrine  of  the  text  is  clearly  this,  that  no  man 
fully  comprehends  the  nature  or  extent  of  his  own 
sinfulness.  The  words  are  all  the  more  impressive 
because  they  do  not  present  the  truth  in  the  form  of 
an  abstract  dogmatic  statement,  but  as  the  testimony 
of  personal  experience.  Indeed,  we  may  say  that  we 
never  really  believe  God's  teachings  with  regard  to  the 
depth  and  enormity  of  sin  until  we  feel  that  they  are 
true  with  regard  to  our  own  sins ;  we  never  believe 
the  doctrine  of  human  depravity  until  we  feel  our  own 
personal  depravity.  Nor  can  we  by  any  force  of 
argument  convince  others  of  their  sins  and  their  need 
of  Christ,  unless  at  the  same  time  we  see  our  own  sins 
and  our  own  need  of  Christ.  If  was  this  humble  con- 
sciousness of  his  own  sinfulness  that  gave  such  power 
to  the  preaching  of  Robert  McCheyne,  that  young 
Scottish  divine  whom  God  took  to  himself  in  the  ful- 
ness of  his  youth  and  promise.  With  incomparable 
modesty  he  said  one  day :  "  The  reason,  I  think,  why 
so  many  of  the  worst  sinners  of  Dundee  come  to  hear 
me  is  that  they  discover  so  much  likeness  between  their 

1  A   sermon   preached   in   Sage  Chapel,   Cornell  University,   Ithaca,   N.   Y., 
October  3,    1886. 

359 


360  MISCELLANIES 

hearts  and  mine."  And  this  is  the  secret  of  the 
psahnist's  power  over  us ;  this  is  the  reason  why  we 
can  hear  from  his  lips  such  sad  descriptions  of  human 
nature  and  yet,  instead  of  cherishing  an  instinctive 
feehng  of  repulsion  toward  them,  can  yield  our  assent 
and  make  our  penitent  confession  of  their  truth.  The 
Nineteenth  Psalm,  which  was  read  as  the  lesson  of  the 
morning,  is  a  record  of  David's  own  experience,  and 
the  text  is  the  very  climax  of  the  psalm.  David  has 
been  speaking  of  the  law  of  God — all-comprehending 
as  the  firmament,  searching  as  the  light,  bright  and 
glorious  as  the  noonday  sun.  Some  rays  streaming 
from  that  holy  law  have  shone  down  into  the  dark 
cavern  of  his  soul ;  but  those  rays  only  reveal  the  con- 
trast between  himself  and  the  God  of  light ;  only  dis- 
cover to  him  great  regions  of  darkness  which  he  had 
not  before  suspected  and  which  stretch  away  inimitably 
in  every  direction  around  him.  How  deep,  how  wide 
those  unexplored  abysses  of  evil  are,  he  cannot  tell; 
overwhelmed  with  astonishment  and  grief  he  can  only 
cry,  "Who  can  understand  his  errors?"  and  then, 
conscious  of  his  own  utter  helplessness  without  God, 
he  prays :  "  Cleanse  thou  me.  from  secret  faults,"  from 
that  sin  within  me,  whose  depths  are  still  unfathomed 
and  unknown.  And  when  in  another  psalm  he  ex- 
presses his  confidence  in  God's  sanctifying  power  and 
grace,  the  words  are:  "  Behold,  thou  desirest  truth  in 
the  inward  parts,  and  in  the  hidden  part  thou  shalt 
make  me  to  know  wisdom." 

This  experience  is  not  peculiar  to  David,  but  finds 
its  parallel  in  every  Christian  heart  and  life.  Nothing 
is  more  common  than  the  confession  on  the  part  of 


UNCONSCIOUSNESS    OF    SIN  36 1 

eminently  holy  men,  that  every  day  of  their  lives  gives 
them  some  new  understanding  of  the  sinfulness  of 
their  own  hearts;  that  the  guilt  which  once  seemed 
slight  and  easily  covered  now  rises  before  them  in  such 
mountainous  proportions  that  nothing  but  infinite 
power  and  infinite  love  can  remove  it.  These  confes- 
sions of  sin  recur  continually  in  the  hymnology  of  the 
church  and  constitute  no  small  part  even  of  the  sacred 
word.  Is  it  not  one  of  the  greatest  of  wonders,  while 
the  holiest  men  esteem  themselves  so  great  sinners, 
while  progress  in  goodness  is  marked  most  clearly 
by  an  increasing  knowledge  and  abhorrence  of  per- 
sonal sin — is  it  not,  I  say,  one  of  the  greatest  of  won- 
ders that  those  who  make  no  pretensions  to  religion, 
and  have  no  aspirations  after  holiness,  are  scarcely 
conscious  that  they  are  sinners  at  all,  and  the  great- 
est transgressors  are  least  troubled  by  the  accusa- 
tions of  conscience?  You  have  seen  men  who  never 
recognized  the  existence  of  their  Maker,  even  by  the 
poor  forms  of  thanks  and  prayer,  men  whose  lives 
were  wholly  selfish  and  sensual,  and  yet  you  have  heard 
such  men  declare  that  as  for  sin,  they  were  aware  of  no 
special  sin  which  they  committed — in  fact,  they  scarcely 
knew  what  sin  was.  I  suppose  no  one  would  deny 
that  it  is  the  general  tendency  among  worldly  men  to 
deny  or  excuse  the  fact  of  sin,  to  conceal  it  or  ignore  it 
or  wholly  forget  it.  And  yet  no  candid  observer  would 
say  that  as  a  general  fact  the  church  contains  the  sin- 
ners and  the  world  embraces  the  truly  holy.  We  may 
well  ask,  then,  why  men  are  so  fearfully  unconscious 
of  their  sins.  My  object  is  to  mention  some  of  the 
reasons  for  this  surprising  unconsciousness  of  sin. 


362  MISCELLANIES 

I.  The  first  of  these  reasons  is  this :  The  power  of 

ANY   principle   WITHIN   US   CAN   NEVER   BE  ESTIMATED 

UNTIL  WE  TRY  TO  OPPOSE  AND  RESIST  IT.  An  illustra- 
tion of  this  truth  is  offered  by  a  late  report  to  the 
French  Academy.  A  member  of  that  body  of  savants, 
reflecting  one  day  upon  the  unseen  and  noiseless  ascent 
of  the  sap  through  the  capillary  tubes  of  a  great  oak- 
tree,  bethought  him  of  a  device  by  which  he  might 
measure  the  force  exerted  in  propelling  the  subtle  fluid 
to  the  remotest  leaves  and  twigs.  Cutting  off  a  small 
limb  he  applied  an  ingenious  meter  to  the  stump  of 
it,  and  found  to  his  amazement  that  the  sap  was  im- 
pelled upward  through  that  single  limb  with  a  force 
of  many  scores  of  pounds.  It  became  easy  to  calculate 
how  great  was  the  aggregate  of  force  exerted  through- 
out the  tree ;  then  it  was  found  that  the  weight  of  many 
tons  would  not  prevent  the  rising  of  the  sap.  While 
the  current  flowed  freely,  no  one  could  have  a  due  con- 
ception of  its  power,  but  when  the  meter  began  to 
stop  its  flow,  then  its  strength  became  manifest. 

Just  so,  no  one  can  estimate  the  power  of  sin  within 
him  until  he  tries  to  curb  its  risings;  then  he  finds  that 
no  force  he  can  apply  will  keep  it  down.  The  great 
balance-wheel  of  the  steam-engine  that  moves  all  the 
machinery  of  a  great  manufactory  revolves  so  steadily 
and  quietly  that  a  child's  hand  might  almost  seem 
strong  enough  to  stop  it;  but  make  the  attempt,  and 
you  are  crushed  in  an  instant.  So  there  is  in  every 
heart  a  great  central  love  of  self  that  moves  all  the 
machinery  of  life.  It  seems  easy  to  stop  it  and  reverse 
its  action  until  you  have  made  the  experiment ;  then 
you  find  every  effort  vain.     You  never  can  compute 


UNCONSCIOUSNESS    OF    SIN  363 

the  force  of  gravitation  until  you  try  to  lift  yourself 
from  the  earth.  So  we  never  know  how  sin  draws  us 
clown,  until  we  seek  to  break  this  attraction  that  binds 
us  to  earth,  and  to  raise  our  minds  to  the  pursuit  of 
things  heavenly  and  divine. 

Many  a  man  thinks  to  stop  the  course  of  sin  by  set- 
ting up  obstacles  to  its  progress  in  the  shape  of  good 
habits  and  partial  reformations ;  but,  like  boys  who 
build  a  miniature  milldam  across  a  country  brook,  only 
to  find  next  morning  that  every  vestige  of  the  frail 
structure  has  been  swept  away  by  the  rising  stream, 
or  that  the  current  has  made  its  way  around  the  dam 
and  left  it  high  and  dry.  So  he  finds  that  good  habits 
can  only  at  the  best  check  the  flowing  of  sin  in  certain 
directions,  while  often  they  force  it  to  break  forth  more 
impetuously  in  others.  The  man  who  really  tries  to 
resist  all  sin,  finds  himself,  unless  God  helps  him,  like 
an  oarsman  in  the  rapids  of  Niagara.  He  may  row 
vigorously  for  a  while,  but  the  mighty  sweep  of  the 
current  is  too  much  for  him  at  last.  You  may  never 
yet  have  tried  to  conquer  all  evil  within  you,  but  can 
you  not  estimate  the  strength  of  that  inward  principle 
by  your  experience  of  the  difficulty  of  conquering  some 
single  temptation  or  breaking  some  single  evil  habit? 
And  have  you  not  felt  at  such  times  that  the  weight  of 
a  conflict  with  all  the  wrong  tendencies  of  your  nature 
combined  would  be  like  Cain's,  a  burden  greater  than 
you  could  bear? 

All  these  illustrations  I  have  taken  from  the  natural 
world.  But  there  are  others  which  come  nearer  to  our 
moral  nature.  Sickness  is  the  emblem  of  sin.  The 
man  who  keeps  about  his  business  while  a  deep-seated 


364  MISCELLANIES 

disease  is  beginning  its  ravages,  knows  little  of  the 
weakness  of  his  constitution  until  he  is  compelled  to 
take  to  his  bed  and  summon  every  energy  and  every 
appliance  of  medical  skill  to  resist  the  invader.  The 
drunkard  thinks  he  is  master  of  his  appetite,  and  can 
stop  his  drinking  at  any  time.  Even  when  he  is  shat- 
tered in  every  nerve  he  still  clings  to  the  belief  that 
the  habit  is  not  inveterate,  that  a  change  of  scene  or 
change  of  companions  will  enable  him  to  subdue  it; 
but  when  he  once  wakes  to  his  danger  and  begins  the 
fight,  he  finds  that  there  is  a  tyrant  within  him ;  his  will 
has  turned  traitor;  a  hand-to-hand  combat  with  Satan 
is  before  him.  And  many  a  man  persuades  himself 
that  he  can  give  up  his  sins  easily  at  any  time,  but 
when  he  makes  the  attempt  he  finds  that  his  fancied 
strength  is  utter  weakness ;  there  is  an  evil  demon 
within  him  wdio  fights  every  inch  of  ground  and  uses 
every  weapon  of  satanic  art.  He  cannot  wage  such 
an  eternal  battle;  rather  than  endure  the  long  strug- 
gle, he  resolves  to  turn  back  and  go  to  hell  with  his 
eyes  open !  Ah,  we  know  little  of  our  own  natures ; 
this  being  of  ours,  so  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made, 
has  become  the  home  and  hiding-place  of  sin.  Rebel- 
lion against  God  has  set  up  its  throne  there,  and  we 
never  know  the  power  of  a  rebellion  until  we  try  to 
put  it  down ! 

II.  Another   reason    for  men's   unconsciousness   of 
their  sins  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  circumstances 

HAVE  NEVER  YET  BEEN  SUCH  AS  TO  DEVELOP  SIN  IN  ITS 

MOST  STARTLING  FORMS ;  in  Other  w^ords,  God's  provi- 
dence has  thus  far  prevented  that  quick  and  awful  prog- 
ress in  sin  which  is  its  natural  tendency.     Anger  does 


UNCONSCIOUSNESS    OF    SIN  365 

not  always  lead  to  murder,  though  the  spirit  of  mur- 
der is  there.  Covetousness  does  not  always  lead  to 
robbery,  nor  selfishness  to  miserliness  or  tyranny,  nor 
love  for  the  luxuries  of  life  to  voluptuous  self-indul- 
gence ;  yet  the  spirit  of  each  one  of  these  crimes  is  in  the 
passion  that  hides  itself  in  the  heart.  And  this  hidden 
passion  would  inevitably  express  itself  in  the  outward 
act  were  the  restraints  of  God's  providence  removed. 
The  nature  of  the  desire  is  not  altered  by  the  lack  of 
opportunity  for  its  gratification.  Opportunity  and  the 
absence  of  restraint  will  transform  many  a  fair-spoken, 
virtuous-looking  man  into  a  sensualist  or  a  robber, 
as  the  early  settlers  of  California  can  witness.  And 
while  these  restraints  are  around  us,  no  one  of  us  can 
certainly  tell  the  power  of  the  evil  within  us.  The 
very  bars  which  God  has  set  up  to  confine  sin  v/ithin 
bounds  cause  us  to  forget  it.  The  love  of  reputation 
restrains  many  a  man  who  is  just  upon  the  brink  of 
criminal  indulgence.  The  fear  of  punishment  keeps 
the  knife  in  many  a  scabbard  when  hatred  prompts  to 
murder.  A  quick  conscience  instructed  early  amid  the 
influences  of  a  Christian  home  makes  many  an  uncon- 
verted man  honorable  in  all  his  dealings,  except  with 
God.  There  is  a  womanliness  of  feeling,  that  by  in- 
stinct as  it  were,  discerns  and  repels  temptation,  and 
naturally  prompts  kind  words  and  conduct  to  all,  ex- 
cept Christ.  Apart  from  these  restraining  influences 
without  and  within,  sin  would  develop  so  quickly  and 
frightfully  that  the  soul  would  soon  be  beyond  the 
reach  of  mercy.  And  yet,  instead  of  regarding  these 
restraints  as  gracious  preventives  established  by  God, 
men   congratulate   themselves   that   what   they   do  or 


^66  MISCELLANIES 

abstain  from  doing  with  these  motives  is  evidence  of 
an  inward  goodness  with  which  God  must  be  pleased ; 
whereas  it  would  be  far  more  proper  to  look  upon  these 
restraints  as  evidences  of  an  inward  tendency  needing 
regulation  and  repression. 

As  you  walk  through  the  long  corridors  of  an  in- 
sane asylum,  the  attending  physician  points  you  to  a 
woman's  face  pressed  against  the  bars  of  an  iron  door. 
There  she  is  imprisoned,  as  fair  and  cjuiet  a  face  as 
you  often  see.  She  calls  out :  "  Doctor,  surely  I  am 
well  enough  now  to  be  given  my  liberty ;  see  how  calm 
I  am."  You  are  almost  inclined  to  take  up  her  cause 
as  your  own;  but,  gazing  more  closely  through  the 
bars,  you  see  in  the  unsteady  glance  and  the  intense 
flashing  of  the  eye  gleams  of  the  lunacy  within,  which 
would  use  liberty  only  as  an  opportunity  to  tear  and 
destroy.  No  thanks  to  her  that  she  is  calm  and  quiet. 
The  madness  is  there,  but  the  bars  prevent  its  manifes- 
tation. And  so  it  is  with  sin, — the  anger,  pride,  malice, 
selfishness,  deceit  of  our  hearts  are  checked  in  their 
manifestations  by  the  influences  of  society  and  of  early 
habit.  Therefore  we  do  not  estimate  them  in  their  true 
light.  The  traveler  in  the  White  Mountains  remarks 
that  the  valley  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Washington  is 
strewn  with  enormous  boulders  of  granite,  which  have 
been  loosened  from  year  to  year  from  the  great  over- 
hanging cliff,  and  carrying  destruction  in  their  course, 
have  tumbled  to  the  very  spot  where  they  now  lie. 
If  you  inquire  what  force  has  separated  these  immense 
masses  from  the  parent  rock  you  find  that  behind  the 
green  fringe  of  foliage  which  waves  so  luxuriantly 
in  summer,  and  hidden  in  the  crevices  of  the  mountain. 


UNCONSCIOUSNESS   OF   SIN  367 

are  pools  of  water  which  the  winter  frosts  change 
to  ice.  Expanding  as  they  freeze,  these  little  pools 
of  limpid  water  have  power  to  tear  the  solid  rock 
asunder,  and  hurl  its  gigantic  fragments  down  the 
mountainside.  So  there  are  destructive  powers  lurking 
in  the  soul — powers  which  are  latent  during  the  short 
summer  of  life,  but  which  are  competent  when  all  re- 
straint upon  them  is  removed,  to  make  the  fairest 
seeming  nature  a  shattered  wreck.  The  real  destruc- 
tive power  of  sin  is  in  great  part  hidden  now,  but  it 
will  be  felt  when  the  sunshine  of  God's  grace  comes 
to  an  end,  and  eternal  winter  settles  down  upon  the 
soul. 

III.  A  third  reason  for  this  strange  unconsciousness 
of  sin  is  that  God's  judgment  of  sin  is  not  yet  made 
MANIFEST.  Sin  takes  the  opinion  of  the  world  as  its 
guide,  not  the  opinion  of  God.  We  may  say  that  it  is 
a  necessity  of  God's  moral  government  that  men  should 
be  allowed  the  world's  standard  instead  of  God's,  if  that 
be  their  choice.  God  cannot  stand  over  us  continually 
with  the  rod  to  drive  us  to  obedience.  The  parent  who 
would  make  his  boy  manly,  and  furnish  room  for  the 
best  development  of  character,  must  give  his  com- 
mand and  counsel,  and  then  leave  obedience  to  the 
boy's  free  will.  So  God  will  not  make  machines  of  us, 
but  free  moral  agents.  He  leaves  us  to  the  influence 
of  his  commands,  to  the  declaration  of  his  invisible 
presence,  to  the  assurance  of  a  final  day  of  account. 
But  this  very  fact  that  God  does  not  hold  his  law 
forever  before  our  eyes,  and  thrust  his  presence  upon 
us,  and  manifest  at  once  his  judgment  upon  our  acts,  is 
perverted  by  men  into  a  proof  that  there  is  no  God, 


368  MISCELLANIES 

no  law,  and  no  judgment.  And  when  God  is  put  out  of 
sight,  men  easily  take  the  world's  standard  for  their 
guide.  Pride  and  anger  are  called  high-spirited.  In- 
sincerity takes  the  name  of  tact.  Swindling  is  called 
sharpness.  And  as  soon  as  public  opinion  sanctions, 
the  voice  of  conscience  is  almost  hushed. 

It  is  surprising  to  read  the  records  of  history  upon 
this  point.  At  the  time  of  the  first  revolution  in  France 
nine-tenths  of  the  members  of  the  National  Assembly, 
comprising  the  collective  wealth,  intellect,  and  even 
virtue  of  the  kingdom,  were  living  in  open  and  shame- 
less adultery.  Crimes,  at  the  mere  mention  of  which. 
we  shudder,  were  common  and  reputable  in  ancient 
Rome.  The  leading  out  of  aged  and  infirm  parents 
by  their  children,  to  die  of  hunger  and  desertion  by  the 
banks  of  the  Ganges,  violated  no  rule  of  propriety  in 
India.  And  there  have  been  towns  in  America  where 
the  morality  of  business  was  so  low  that  an  ingenious 
swindle  was  only  laughed  at  and  applauded  as  a  piece 
of  sharp  practice.  When  men  forget  God  and  his  law 
they  can  regulate  their  conduct  by  a  factitious  standard 
and  so  hide  from  themselves  the  enormity  of  their  sin. 
We  estimate  our  conduct  toward  God  by  some  such 
standard.  The  rejection  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
and  the  disregard  of  all  his  claims  upon  the  soul  is 
judged  by  such  a  standard.  Because  men  generally 
do  not  think  it  so  great  a  crime,  we  can  look  upon  it  as 
venial  and  excusable.  But  if  we  could  take  that  sin  up 
into  the  light  of  heaven  and  the  presence  of  the  angels 
and  examine  it  there  we  should  find  it  wicked  and 
cruel  and  atrocious  beyond  all  thought  to  conceive  or 
words  to  express,  and  our  very  willingness  to  ignore 


UNCONSCIOUSNESS    OF    SIN  369 

the  statute  book  and  take  the  world's  opinion  as  more 
credible  than  the  testimony  of  God's  word,  is  itself  the 
most  heinous  of  crimes. 

That  this  absence  of  God's  visible  presence  and  this 
delay  in  executing  judgment  are  made  the  means  of 
hiding  sin  from  ourselves  is  clearly  set  forth  in  the 
Bible.  "  Because  sentence  against  an  evil  work  is  not 
executed  speedily,"  says  Solomon,  "  therefore  the 
hearts  of  men  are  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil."  And 
men  instinctively  acknowledge  this  in  the  sudden  fears 
which  possess  them  when  they  think  of  coming  into 
the  presence  of  the  lawgiver.  As  the  boy's  profanity 
ceases  so  soon  as  he  sees  his  mother's  face,  as  the 
fallen  woman  can  keep  good  heart  and  countenance 
until  the  sin  is  discovered,  but  then  sinks  under  the 
heavy  blows  of  conscience,  as  the  forger  keeps  on  his 
smooth  and  self-complacent  look  until  the  detective 
enters  his  office  and  taps  him  on  the  shoulder,  as  the 
murderer  holds  on  in  his  mock  bravery  until  the  dread 
paraphernalia  of  the  gallows  bursts  upon  his  sight, 
so  the  sinner  can  maintain  a  certain  quiet  and  indif- 
ference until  he  is  brought  face  to  face  with  God's  law 
and  God's  judgment;  then  human  standards  vanish 
into  nothingness  and  God's  standard  brings  to  light  the 
long-hidden  evil  of  the  heart.  You  may  possibly  for- 
get your  sins  for  a  time  by  persuading  yourself  that 
you  will  be  judged  by  the  world's  standard.  You  may 
cover  your  sins  with  the  veil  of  human  opinion;  you 
may  think  the  record  of  them  writ  in  water  so  that  it 
never  can  be  read  again ;  but  you  will  be  judged  by 
God's  standard,  not  man's;  the  veil  of  human  opinion 
w^ill  fall  away  at  last,  and  your  soul  will  stand  naked 

Y 


370  MISCELLANIES 

before  the  Judge;  the  record  you  thought  written  in 
water  will  be  found  written  in  invisible  ink  instead,  so 
that  every  word  and  letter  of  it  will  come  out  clear  and 
distinct  and  dark  in  the  fires  of  God's  judgment.  You 
may  not  feel  your  sins  now,  but  then  you  will  feel 
yourself  all  vileness  and  pollution;  you  may  feel  un- 
troubled now,  but  then  you  will  call  on  the  rocks  and 
mountains  to  fall  upon  you  and  hide  you  from  the  face 
of  God  and  of  the  Lamb ! 

IV.  But  beyond  all  this,  and  as  the  last  reason  I 
shall  mention  why  men  are  so  fearfully  unconscious 
of  their  sins,  let  me  say  that  sin  itself  has  a  blinding 

INFLUENCE    UPON    THE    MIND.       Evil    Scldom    prCSCUtS 

itself  to  us  in  its  own  hideous  nature;  when  it  seeks 
to  tempt  us,  it  comes  as  an  angel  of  light;  it  always 
furnishes  us  with  abundant  excuses  for  admitting  it 
to  our  hearts ;  otherwise  it  could  have  no  power  to  lead 
us  captive.  To  be  "  blinded  by  passion  "  has  passed 
into  a  proverbial  phrase.  One  evil  habit  will  often 
completely  destroy  one's  power  of  sober  judgment 
with  regard  to  all  things  relating  to  the  cherished  sin. 
The  opium-eater  will  persist  in  believing  that  his  life 
is  bound  up  with  the  use  of  the  bitter  drug,  when 
everybody  else  sees  clearly  that  the  only  chance  of  life 
for  that  wasted  and  shattered  form  is  in  the  total 
abandonment  of  the  destroying  habit  at  any  cost  of 
pain  and  suffering.  The  man  bent  on  murder  is  never 
more  thoroughly  foolish  than  when  contriving  ways 
to  conceal  his  crime.  His  sin  so  blinds  him  that  in 
covering  his  bloody  tracks  he  weaves  the  very  web 
of  his  own  detection.  And  the  reason  is  that  the  set 
purpose  of  the  heart  controls  the  attention.     Passion 


UNCONSCIOUSNESS    OF    SIN  371 

will  not  permit  the  calm  consideration  of  the  difficul- 
ties and  dangers  that  lie  in  its  way.  Sin  w^ill  never 
look  into  the  mirror  of  God's  law  to  discover  its  own 
deformity.  It  does  not  think  of  God's  natuie  and  re- 
quirements, the  certainty  of  his  promises  of  wrath, 
the  futility  of  all  earthly  judgments  when  they  con- 
tradict his  judgments.  The  sinner  will  not  look  at 
the  numberless  transgressions  of  his  life,  his  unlikeness 
to  God,  his  rejection  of  Christ,  but  he  persists  in  fixing 
his  thoughts  on  the  seemingly  good  things  in  his  char- 
acter. Like  Eve  in  the  garden,  he  chooses  to  forget 
God's  word  :  "  In  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt 
surely  die."  and  to  listen  instead  to  Satan's  whisper: 
"  Thou  shalt  not  surely  die."  By  controlling  his  at- 
tention, sin  leads  the  man  to  believe  the  enemy  of  his 
soul  and  to  make  God  a  liar. 

This  unbelief  becomes  a  fixed  habit  of  mind;  but 
this  is  not  all :  every  new  sin  adds  to  the  inveteracy 
and  strength  of  the  habit.  While  his  sins  increase 
at  an  alarming  rate,  his  blindness  and  unconcern  in- 
crease in  exact  ratio  with  his  sins.  You  can  see  this 
in  the  callousness  of  hardened  criminals.  The  boy 
who  once  shuddered  at  obscenity  learns  to  indulge  in 
it  without  a  qualm  of  conscience,  and  even  to  make 
merry  over  the  days  of  his  innocence.  The  soul  loses 
its  sensitiveness  just  in  proportion  as  it  is  sunk  in  sin. 
There  are  wretches  confined  in  our  States'  prisons 
whose  souls  are  stained  with  every  lust  and  crime  upon 
the  catalogue,  but  who  have  no  apparent  sense  that  they 
are  sinners ;  aye.  the  most  hoary-headed  villain  of  them 
all  may  have  knelt  once  by  a  mother's  knee,  and  felt 
her  hot  tears  falling  upon  his  face  as  she  brought  the 


372  MISCELLANIES 

case  of  her  little  wayward  son  before  her  God  in 
prayer.  Those  tears  and  sobs  went  to  his  heart  once, 
and  answering  tears  flowed  freely  from  his  eyes;  but 
that  day  is  long  past ;  the  tears  will  not  flow  now ;  he  has 
broken  away  from  every  influence  human  and  divine; 
and  now  he  cannot  feel — cannot  even  see  his  sin  in 
breaking  that  mother's  heart.  Oh,  how  dreadful  is 
this  fact  of  human  nature,  that  while  the  true  Chris- 
tian feels  God's  truth  with  regard  to  his  own  sins  more 
and  more,  the  unbeliever  feels  it  less  and  less,  until  the 
time  comes  at  last  that  the  soul  is  "  past  feeling." 

But  we  never  know  how  terrible  is  this  blinding 
power  of  sin  until  we  see  it  overcoming  and  rejecting 
even  the  mighty  witness  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  When 
God's  Spirit  comes  into  the  heart  of  the  self-deceiver 
with  his  clear,  divine  testimony,  even  then  sin  can 
give  the  lie  to  God.  The  sinner  fears  the  investigation, 
and  will  not  allow  it  to  proceed.  You  all  remember 
the  murder  of  Parkman  by  Doctor  Webster  some  years 
ago  in  Boston.  You  all  know  how  the  honorable 
repute  of  the  accused  delayed  every  step  that  was 
taken,  and  how,  after  circumstances  seemed  to  point 
distinctly  to  him  as  the  murderer,  a  trembling  and 
pallor  came  over  those  detectives  as  they  turned  the 
key  of  the  laboratory  door,  behind  which  they  knew 
they  should  find  the  sure  evidences  of  his  guilt.  And 
when  the  Holy  Spirit  offers  to  show  the  sinner  his 
guilt,  he  starts  back  too;  he  trembles,  he  will  not  see 
the  truth ;  rather  than  see  his  sins  as  they  are,  he  drives 
the  Spirit  from  his  soul.  If  he  has  a  disease  upon  him, 
he  wishes  to  know  the  worst  of  it;  if  he  is  in  financial 
difficulty,    he   desires   to   see   at   once   just   where   he 


UNCONSCIOUSNESS    OF    SIN  2>73 

Stands;  but  when  it  comes  to  knowing  what  he  is  in 
the  sight  of  God,  sin  persuades  him  to  reverse  all 
right  rules,  and  to  go  on  as  if  health  and  wealth  were 
his,  while  he  is  utterly  bankrupt,  and  spiritually  dis- 
eased from  the  crown  of  his  head  to  the  soles  of  his 
feet.  As  the  condemned  soldier  is  blindfolded  before 
the  fatal  volley  of  musketry  is  fired,  so  sin  blindfolds 
the  sinner  before  his  execution,  that  he  may  have  no 
warning  and  no  chance  to  escape  his  doom.  Often, 
very  often,  he  dies  as  the  fool  dieth,  thinking  all  is 
well,  until  he  wakes  up  in  the  other  world  to  the  fear- 
ful realities  of  the  Judgment. 

Three  brief  remarks  conclude  my  theme,  i.  The 
subject  teaches  us  that  unconsciousness  of  our  sins,  in- 
stead of  being  a  proof  that  our  sin  is  small,  proves  the 
very  opposite.  If  it  be  true  that  this  unconsciousness 
is  caused  by  our  failure  to  make  any  real  effort  to  resist 
the  tide  of  sin  within  us,  if  our  ignorance  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  God  in  mercy  has  set  up  some  bars  to  its 
desolating  progress,  if  the  delay  of  his  judgments  has 
been  perverted  into  an  evidence  that  our  sin  was  so 
slight  that  he  will  not  punish  it,  if  we  have  allowed 
our  sin  to  blind  us  to  our  true  condition,  then  surely 
our  unconsciousness  of  our  sins  is  no  excuse  for  them, 
but  rather  an  aggravation.  We  could  not  be  uncon- 
scious of  our  sins  if  we  had  not  been  bound  to  follow 
our  own  reason  and  will  in  the  very  teeth  of  God's 
warnings.  The  criminal  who  pleads  intoxication  as  an 
excuse  for  crime  is  answered  by  the  judge:  "Who 
made  you  intoxicated  but  yourself?  Do  not  extenuate 
one  crime  by  pleading  another."  An  infidel  writer 
of  England  shows  what  the  instinct  of  human  nature 


374 


MISCELLANIES 


teaches  on  this  point,  when  even  he  declares  that 
"  the  greatest  of  sins  is  to  be  conscious  of  none,"  and 
every  one  of  us  will  do  well  to  consider  whether  the 
absence  of  any  feeling  of  our  sins  is  not  evidence  that 
we  are  great  and  hardened  transgressors. 

Secondly,  the  very  fact  that  a  man  does  not  feel  his 
sins  is  not  only  proof  that  he  is  a  great  sinner  in  the 
sight  of  God,  but  this  lack  of  feeling  is  the  most  alarm- 
ing possible  symptom.  For  there  is  no  Christ  and  no 
salvation  for  such  as  he,  Christ  did  not  come  to  call 
the  righteous,  but  sinners  to  repentance;  he  came  to 
seek  and  save  only  those  that  are  lost.  For  one 
who  continues  unconscious  of  sin  there  is  absolutely 
no  Saviour  and  no  heaven.  The  guilty  and  repentant 
may  be  saved,  but  such,  never!  Your  own  uncon- 
sciousness of  sin  does  not  alter  for  a  moment  the  awful 
fact  that  you  are  a  sinner,  so  great  a  sinner  that  the 
weight  of  your  sin  when  laid  upon  the  Son  of  God 
crushed  his  soul  in  Gethsemane,  and  broke  his  heart 
on  Calvary.  Nor  does  it  alter  for  one  moment  the 
fearful  certainty  that  if  you  do  not  accept  this  work 
of  Christ  in  your  stead,  the  weight  of  it  will  come 
down  upon  you  and  crush  you  at  the  Judgment.  We 
sometimes  wonder  when  we  see  men  under  strong 
conviction,  overwhelmed  with  the  sense  of  sin,  unable 
to  conceal  their  agony.  When  I  have  seen  this  rest- 
less anguish  of  the  soul  before  which  God  was  unroll- 
ing the  long  scroll  of  its  transgressions,  it  has  seemed 
to  me  that  a  full  view  of  that  scroll,  with  no  Saviour's 
blood  to  blot  out  its  accusations,  must  be  death  and 
torment — yes,  eternal  death  and  eternal  torment !  And 
yet  the  thought  that  we  do  not  feel  our  sins  sometimes 


UNCONSCIOUSNESS    OF    SIN  375 

seems  to  me  more  fearful  still.  More  dreadful,  if 
possible,  than  the  strongest  conviction  of  our  sins  is 
this  deathlike  unconsciousness  of  them;  for  that  may 
indicate  the  working  of  the  enlightening  Spirit  of  God, 
while  this  may  indicate  that  the  Spirit  of  God  has  left 
the  soul  to  go  on  in  all  its  blindness  and  unconcern 
until  the  day  of  wrath  shall  tear  away  the  mask  of  self- 
deception,  and  the  lightnings  of  God's  justice  shall 
destroy  it  suddenly  and  without  remedy. 

Last  of  all.  this  subject  teaches  us  as  no  other  can, 
the  iuimeasurablc  grace  of  God  in  the  gift  of  his  Holy 
Spirit.  Infinitely  needy  and  vile  as  we  are,  the  worst 
feature  of  our  case  is  that  we  do  not  realize  our  need 
and  vileness;  and  not  seeing  it  we  will  not  make  the 
first  effort  for  our  own  salvation.  Laden  with  a 
mountain-weight  of  guilt,  tottering  on  the  verge  of 
everlasting  fire,  and  yet  insanely  happy !  What  in- 
finite love  of  God,  that  not  only  provides  a  free  salva- 
tion through  the  cross  and  the  blood  of  his  only  Son, 
but  also  reveals  to  the  rejecters  and  mockers  of  that 
salvation  their  danger  and  their  deliverance,  through 
the  enlightening,  convincing,  renewing  power  of  his 
Holy  Spirit!  Have  you  ever  availed  yourself  of  the 
offer  of  that  Spirit  to  reveal  you  to  yourself?  Have 
you  ever  gone  to  God  pleading  his  promise  to  give 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  who  ask  him?  If  you  have 
not,  then  you  are  doubly  guilty ;  first,  for  your  criminal 
ignorance  of  your  condition,  and  then  for  your  neglect 
of  that  divine  Agent,  who  alone  can  show  you  what 
you  are.  You  bear  the  responsibility  not  only  of  your 
sin,  but  of  refusing  light  with  regard  to  your  sin. 
And  what  excuse  will  you  render  in  the  great  day 


376  MISCELLANIES 

when  you  give  up  your  account  to  God?  Excuse? 
You  have  no  excuse,  for  you  first  deny  God's  testi- 
mony, and  then  cast  out  from  your  heart  the  only 
witness  who  can  ever  convince  you.  But  I  hear  some 
sinner  say :  "  I  do  have  some  faint  knowledge — oh,  how 
faint! — of  my  condition  as  a  sinner!"  O  friend, 
cherish  that  conviction,  banish  it  not!  It  is  the  Spirit's 
work — the  only  work  which  Satan  cannot  counter- 
feit. God  has  not  left  you  yet.  He  shows  you  your 
need,  only  that  he  may  point  you  to  Christ.  "  Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God,  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world !  "  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou 
shalt  be  saved!  " 

The  Spirit  calls  to-day, 

Yield  to  his  power; 
Oh,  grieve  him  not  away, 

'Tis  mercy's  hour ! 


XLIV 
THE  HELP  OF  THE  SPIRIT  IN  PRAYER  ' 

Likewise  the  Spirit  also  helpeth  our  infirmities :  for  we  know  not 
what  we  should  pray  for  as  we  ought:  but  the  Spirit  itself 
maketh  intercession  for  us  with  groanings  which  cannot  be 
uttered.  And  he  that  searcheth  the  hearts  knoweth  what  is  the 
mind  of  the  Spirit,  because  he  maketh  intercession  for  the  saints 
according  to  the  will  of  God.     (Rom.  8:26,  27.) 

The  seventh  chapter  of  Romans  is  the  old  story  of 
the  conflict  between  sinful  human  nature  and  divine 
grace ;  a  conflict  which  begins  with  the  moment  of 
first  conviction,  and  continues  through  the  experience 
of  conversion,  to  that  point  in  the  Christian  life  when 
there  comes  to  the  soul  the  glorious  assurance  of  com- 
plete victory  in  Christ.  The  eighth  chapter  is  the 
story  of  a  long  triumphant  progress  in  the  case  of 
those  with  whom  the  divided  life  has  ceased  through 
conscious  union  with  Christ  and  participation  in  his 
Spirit.  As  in  the  seventh  chapter,  we  get  a  view 
of  the  earthward  side  of  Christian  character,  so  in 
the  eighth,  the  heavenward  side  is  described  to  us. 
The  one  presents  religion  in  its  relations  to  law ;  the 
other  in  its  relations  to  the  life-giving  power  of  God ; 
the  one  is  full  of  the  burden  and  sorrow  of  a  strug- 
gling conscience  and  a  will  only  half  subdued,  the 
other  is  full  of  the  gratulations  and  rejoicings  of  the 


1  A    sermon    preached    in    the    First    Baptist    Church,    Rochester,    N. 

January  4,    1874. 


377 


3/8  MISCELLANIES 

heart  in  which  the  power  of  sin  is  broken  by  the 
greater  power  of  the  indwelhng  Christ,  and  to  which 
faith  makes  the  present  glorious  though  incomplete 
deliverance  the  evidence  and  pledge  of  the  final  and 
perfect  redemption. 

Thus  in  the  heart  of  the  experienced  Christian  there 
is  glory  already  begun,  since  he  has  in  his  present  pos- 
session the  earnest  of  his  great  future  possessions. 
There  is  a  burden  indeed  still  existing  in  the  condition 
of  his  own  yet  unsanctified  soul,  and  in  the  condition 
of  those  who  are  yet  in  their  sins  around  him.  The 
creation  of  God,  groaning  under  its  load  of  sin  and 
suffering,  finds  in  him  a  ready  sympathizer,  and  its 
longings  for  full  deliverance  are  answered  by  the  sigh- 
ing of  his  own  nature  for  the  manifestation  of  the 
sons  of  God  in  their  true  character  and  glory.  But 
this  burden  is  very  unlike  the  burden  of  unsubdued 
sin  and  crushing  guilt  that  once  weighed  him  down. 
That  brought  fear  with  it,  and  unrest  and  misery.  But 
this  burden  is  a  burden  of  love ;  it  is  perfectly  consistent 
with  inward  peace;  it  is  one  of  the  clearest  marks  of 
union  with  Christ.  In  it  we  enter  into  his  work  of 
desire  and  prayer  for  the  bringing  back  of  all  things 
to  himself.  And  in  bearing  this  burden  three  mighty 
encouragements  are  given  us:  First,  we  have  the  cer- 
tainty of  Christ's  triumph  and  of  our  triumph  with 
him  to  cheer  us  in  our  patient  waiting;  secondly,  we 
have  the  assurance  that  the  Spirit  of  God  helps  us  in 
our  longings  and  prayers ;  and  thirdly,  we  have  the 
declaration  that  all  things  in  the  universe  work  together 
according  to  God's  plan  for  our  good  here  and  for 
our  salvation  hereafter. 


THE    HELP    OF    THE    SPIRIT    IN    PRAYER  379 

Having  thus  given  a  brief  account  of  the  connection 
in  which  the  text  occurs,  we  confine  our  attention  to  the 
passage  before  us.  The  great  teaching  of  it  is  that 
in  carrying  on  our  struggle  with  the  sinful  propensities 
that  yet  remain  within  us,  and  in  bearing  the  burden 
of  anxiety  and  prayer  for  the  salvation  of  others,  we 
are  not  alone,  because  the  almighty  Spirit  of  God  is 
present  with  us,  inspiring  us  with  these  strong  desires 
and  helping  us  in  our  prayers.  As  another  has  said : 
"  That  same  universal  Spirit  which  fills  the  creation 
with  yearnings  for  the  eternal  Magnet,  yearns  also  in 
the  hearts  of  believers  and  secures  help  for  them." 
"  The  Spirit  helpeth  our  infirmities,"  takes  part  with 
us  in  our  weakness,  bears,  as  it  were,  a  share  of  our 
burden,  and  by  prompting  and  counseling  our  petitions, 
acts  as  our  mighty  advocate  in  prayer.  This  wonder- 
ful blessing,  the  privilege  and  possession  of  all  saints, 
though  they  may  be  only  imperfectly  conscious  of  it, 
deserves  our  most  earnest  consideration.  Let  me  speak 
then  on  the  help  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  prayer — first, 
the  need  of  it,  and  secondly,  the  manner  of  it. 

I.  A  very  slight  attention  to  the  nature  of  true 
prayer  will  convince  us,  I  think,  of  our  entire  depend- 
ence on  the  Spirit  of  God  for  success  in  our  supplica- 
tion. By  true  prayer  I  mean  prayer  for  right  things, 
prompted  by  a  right  motive,  offered  in  a  right  manner, 
and  so  accepted  and  answered  by  God.  Such  prayer 
is  efficacious,  not  because  it  changes  God's  mind  or 
bends  God's  will  to  ours,  but  because  it  furnishes  the 
indispensable  condition  with  which  God  has  connected 
the  gift  of  heavenly  blessings.  Certain  methods  of 
his  working  are  revealed  to  us.     God  is  an  unchan- 


380  MISCELLANIES 

g'mg  being,  and  what  he  purposes  to  do  to-day  he  has 
purposed  from  all  eternity.  "  He  is  of  one  mind, 
and  who  can  turn  him?  "  Yet  still  it  is  true  that  the 
blessings  he  bestows  he  has  determined  to  bestow  in 
a  certain  way.  The  end  shall  not  be  granted  except 
through  the  use  of  means.  God  has  determined  that 
the  farmer's  field  shall  produce  a  crop  the  coming 
season,  but  he  has  also  determined  that  the  crop  shall 
be  the  immediate  result  of  the  farmer's  voluntary 
labor  in  sowing  and  reaping.  The  means  are  ordained 
as  well  as  the  end,  and  are  ordained  as  necessary  to 
the  end,  so  that  it  is  still  true  that  if  the  farmer  does 
not  sow  he  shall  have  no  crop.  It  would  be  foolish 
for  the  farmer  to  withhold  his  hand  from  labor  because 
God  has  determined  the  result,  for  God  has  determined 
the  result  only  in  connection  with  the  labor.  It  would 
be  foolish  for  the  farmer  to  idle  away  the  precious 
springtime  on  the  plea  that  God's  purpose  is  fixed, 
and  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  change  it.  God's  pur- 
pose is  fixed  whether  there  shall  be  a  harvest  or  not 
on  that  particular  field,  but  it  is  just  os  fixed  that  if 
there  is  to  be  a  harvest,  it  must  be  preceded  by  hard 
work  on  the  part  of  the  farmer.  So  God  has  deter- 
mined what  heavenly  blessings  he  will  bestow  upon 
men,  but  he  has  determined  also  that  every  gift  of 
heavenly  blessing  shall  be  preceded  by  prayer.  The 
means  are  also  appointed  in  connection  with  the  end, 
and  he  who  would  receive  the  blessing  from  the  Lord 
must  ask  it  in  earnest  faith  and  true  submission  to 
God's  will.  So  that  a  proper  conception  of  prayer 
not  only  makes  room  for  the  accomplishment  through 
it   of   the   unchangeable   purposes   of   God,   but   also 


THE    HELP    OF    THE    SPIRIT    IN    PRAYER  381 

embraces  the  truth  that  God  bestows  gifts  in  answer 
to  prayer  which  he  never  would  bestow  without  it. 

If  this  is  a  true  view  of  the  nature  of  prayer,  it 
follows  that  only  that  prayer  which  is  according  to 
the  will  of  God  is  answered.  To  teach  his  creatures 
their  dependence  and  his  sovereignty,  he  makes  the 
gifts  of  his  grace  turn  upon  the  humble  reverential 
petitions  of  those  who  love  him.  He  will  have  their 
hearts  in  unison  with  himself  and  his  great  work  be- 
fore he  answers  their  prayers.  All  the  petitions  of 
all  the  church  are  only  echoes  of  that  one :  "  Thy  will 
be  done."  True  prayer  is  not  so  much  a  bringing 
God  down  to  sympathy  with  us  as  it  is  a  bringing  us 
up  to  sympathy  with  God.  There  can  be  no  change  in 
God,  but  there  may  be  change  in  us  that  fits  us  to 
receive  his  gifts.  His  purpose  does  not  permit  him 
to  bestow  those  gifts  until  we  come  to  him  with  a 
heart  that  longs  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  will  in 
all  things,  and  so  is  in  harmony  with  the  great  central 
power  and  motive  of  the  universe. 

True  prayer  asks  for  particular  blessings  only  so  for 
as  they  may  be  in  accord  with  the  will  of  God;  it 
presses  its  suit  because  it  feels  that  God's  glory  is  in- 
volved in  its  receiving  an  answer.  True  prayer  flings  it- 
self into  the  great  current  of  God's  providential  means, 
that  it  may  reach  the  end  which  he  has  foreseen  and 
ordained  from  the  beginning.  And  here  is  the  great 
encouragement  to  pray, — God  has  appointed  our  pray- 
ers as  the  means  of  our  own  and  others'  salvation,  and 
so  of  his  glory.  He  has  determined  from  eternity 
that  every  prayer  of  faith  and  submission  shall  be  in- 
fallibly followed  by  the  putting  forth  of  his  power. 


382  MISCELLANIES 

He  has  included  this  in  his  eternal  purpose,  that  every 
soul  in  harmony  with  himself  shall  have  power  to 
wake  into  actual  efficiency  the  silent  and  yet  un- 
executed resolves  of  his  heart,  just  as  when  two  harp- 
strings  are  keyed  to  the  same  note,  the  striking  of 
the  one  brings  forth  responsive  music  from  the  other. 
Thus  a  slight  consideration  of  the  nature  of  true 
prayer  opens  to  us  the  sight  of  our  great  needs  in 
prayer.  If  there  is  no  true  prayer  which  has  not 
God's  will  as  its  supreme  aim,  and  sympathy  with  God 
as  its  great  inner  motive,  how  can  sinners  ever  pray 
without  God's  help?  We  cannot  fail  to  see  the  pro- 
priety of  these  conditions  of  success  in  prayer,  but  how 
can  creatures  whom  selfishness  still  torments,  whom 
unbelief  still  leads  astray,  whom  sin  still  blinds,  ever 
fulfil  these  conditions,  and  come  before  the  great  God 
with  hearts  lifted  above  all  petty  selfish  interests  and 
absorbed  in  desire  for  the  divine  glory?  And  how 
can  we  know  the  proper  manner  of  approach,  recog- 
nizing with  our  souls  the  presence  and  majesty  of 
God,  acknowledging  from  our  hearts  our  utter  desti- 
tution of  any  claim  upon  his  compassion,  yet  com- 
bining with  this  a  childlike  confidence  in  the  infinite 
freeness  and  condescension  of  his  grace?  What 
remedy  for  our  ignorance  when  petitions  are  sug- 
gested which  may  not  be  according  to  the  will  of 
God,  but  on  the  other  hand,  may  be  only  the  oft:'spring 
of  an  unworthy  desire  for  our  own  comfort  or  ease 
or  pleasure?  Ah,  no  one  who  has  ever  felt  the 
solemnity  of  an  audience  with  the  King  of  kings  has 
been  free  from  such  questions  as  these.  How  can 
God  hear  or  answer  a  sinner's  prayer?     Job  felt  this 


THE    HELP    OF    THE    SPIRIT    IN    PRAYER  383 

ignorance  when  he  cried :  "  Oh,  that  I  knew  where 
I  might  find  him!  " 

The  heathen  philosophers  made  this  ignorance  a 
reason  why  a  mortal  should  never  attempt  to  address 
the  gods  in  prayer,  and  so  the  sorrows  and  anxieties 
and  dreadful  fears  and  intolerable  longings  of  the 
heart  were  sealed  up  in  deathlike  silence,  only  to  burn 
the  heart  to  ashes  by  their  intense  inward  fires.  Thank 
God  that  we  live  in  better  and  brighter  days;  that  a 
revelation  is  given  us  which  makes  prayer  a  rational 
and  satisfying  resource.  While  "  nothing  human 
holds  good  before  God,  and  nothing  but  God  himself 
can  satisfy  God,"  still  it  is  possible  for  man  to  pray 
and  to  pray  aright.  For  this  is  the  revelation:  God 
does  himself,  by  his  Holy  Spirit,  help  us  to  come  into 
sympathy  with  his  purposes  and  to  ask  according  to 
his  will.  For  the  Spirit  helpeth  our  infirmities,  and 
while  we  know  not  what  to  pray  for  as  we  ought, 
maketh  intercession  for  us  with  groanings  that  can- 
not be  uttered.  And  he  that  searcheth  the  hearts 
knoweth  what  is  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  because. he 
maketh  intercession  for  the  saints  according  to  the 
will  of  God.  So  our  need  is  supplied;  the  fulcrum 
for  this  great  lever  that  moves  the  world  is  given  us. 
God  himself  furnishes  not  only  the  answer,  but  the 
argument  and  inspiration  of  our  prayers. 

II.  One  other  point  remains  to  be  examined :  What 
is  the  manner  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  intercession?  It  is 
interesting  to  observe  that  the  same  word  which  is 
used  to  describe  the  work  of  the  Spirit  is  used  in 
the  Fpistle  to  the  Hebrews  to  describe  the  work  of 
Christ.     Christ  is  there   represented   as   able  to  save 


384  MISCELLANIES 

them  to  the  uttermost  that  come  unto  God  by  him, 
seeing  he  ever  Hveth  to  make  intercession  for  them. 
Here  we  have  presented  to  us  the  idea  of  an  eternal 
Advocate  at  the  right  of  the  throne,  whose  requests 
secure  for  us  on  earth  the  gifts  for  which  we  truly 
pray.  So  the  Spirit  is  presented  to  us  as  an  advocate 
in  the  soul,  helping  us  to  fulfil  the  conditions  of  suc- 
cessful prayer.  And  this  the  Spirit  does,  not  by  acting 
as  a  mediator  outside  of  us — that  would  be  to  take 
the  place  of  Christ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  by  super- 
seding the  use  of  our  faculties — that  would  be  to  take 
our  place;  but  as  the  text  expresses  it,  by  helping  us 
in  our  ignorance  and  weakness,  by  lovingly  and  pity- 
ingly prompting  and  counseling  our  petitions,  and 
thus  teaching  iis  how  to  pray. 

Some  of  us  can  remember  days  of  childhood  which 
were  overcast  by  some  great  sorrow  or  darkened  by 
the  first  deep  consciousness  of  sin;  and  in  those  days, 
hours  when  a  mother's  tender  hand  led  our  childish 
steps  apart  and  a  mother's  tender  voice  taught  our 
childish  lips  to  utter  the  words  of  confession  and  sub- 
mission. If  you  can  remember  such  a  scene,  I  am 
sure  no  memory  of  your  childhood  can  be  more  sweet 
than  that  of  the  sobbing,  broken  utterances  in  which 
one  who  is  sainted  now  showed  you  how  to  find  relief 
in  presence  of  the  heavenly  Father.  It  is  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  Spirit's  work  of  intercession — but  oh,  how 
imperfect  an  illustration !  The  mother's  teaching  is 
external,  the  Spirit's  is  within  the  soul ;  the  mother's 
may  have  little  power  to  lead  us  out  of  ourselves  and 
up  to  God,  the  Spirit's  power  can  lift  us  up  very  near 
the  throne;  the  mother  can  only  whisper  zuords  in  our 


THE    HELP    OF    THE    SPIRIT    IN    PRAYER  385 

childish  ear,  the  Spirit  can  inspire  the  heart  with  pure 
and  true  desires  toward  God.  Yet  in  this  their  work 
is  similar — both  are  helpers  to  the  action  of  our  own 
minds;  neither  comes  between  our  souls  and  God,  but 
rather  helps  us  in  our  weakness  to  come  ourselves  with 
due  sense  of  our  unworthiness  and  a  comforting  trust 
in  the  promises  of  God.  The  Spirit,  more  easily  and 
naturally  and  powerfully  than  any  mother's  voice, 
can  teach  the  child  of  God  both  what  he  should  pray 
for  and  how  to  seek  it  as  he  ought. 

But  more  than  this :  prayer  does  not  consist  in  words 
alone,  but  in  "  the  heart's  sincere  desire,  unuttered  or 
expressed."  And  here  is  a  mysterious  influence  of 
the  Spirit  which  differences  it  from  all  human  helps 
and  lifts  it  far  above  them.  The  Spirit  helps  the 
Christian  not  simply  by  suggesting  to  him  intelligently 
worded  petitions,  but  ofttimes  by  exciting  in  him  de- 
sires too  vast  and  eager  for  him  to  grasp  or  express 
except  in  sighings.  There  are  sacred  hours  of  the  soul, 
in  which  we  enter  tlie  presence-chamber  of  the  Most 
High  and  gain  some  view  of  the  infinite  beauty  of  holi- 
ness, the  infinite  sacrifice  of  Christ,  the  infinite  value 
of  the  soul,  the  infinite  sorrow  of  banishment  from 
God;  and  then  we  long,  with  a  mighty  longing,  that 
salvation  might  come  from  God  to  the  lost  and  perish- 
ing. And  in  those  deepest  moments  speech  fails,  yet 
the  Spirit  prays;  like  the  prophets,  who  knew  not  what 
nor  what  manner  of  time  the  Spirit  within  them  did 
signify,  so  we  know  not  the  full  force  nor  meaning  of 
our  prayers;  we  know  only  that  we  are  near  to  God 
and  that  we  cry  unto  him  to  make  himself  known  and 
to  spread  through  all  things  his  glory.     There  is  joy. 


2%  MISCELLANIES 

but  it  is  a  joy  intermingled  with  sorrow, — joy  in  God, 
but  sorrow  for  the  world  and  for  the  souls  for  whom 
we  pray.  It  is  the  fellowship  of  Christ's  sufferings. 
And  no  experience  of  our  lives  is  so  rational  as  this. 
The  Spirit  of  God  carries  us  not  beside  ourselves,  but 
above  ourselves,  upholding  our  human  weakness  along 
heights  where  we  never  could  walk  alone,  leading  us 
aright  in  the  obscurity  of  our  longing,  and  filling  us 
with  his  own  mighty  desires  for  the  rescue  of  souls 
and  the  redemption  of  the  great  sin-laden  earth.  Not 
a  word  may  escape  our  lips,  though  our  hearts  may 
be  full  of  sighings  that  cannot  be  uttered.  Still  it  is 
prayer,  the  truest,  deepest  prayer;  for  the  Holy  Spirit 
has  inspired  and  made  intercession  for  us.  Aye,  the 
voice  of  that  silent  and  unutterable  longing  has  entered 
into  the  ear  of  God.  He  has  understood  it,  though 
men  may  not  and  we  may  not.  He  has  sent  his  Spirit 
into  our  hearts,  and  the  prayer  which  has  been  in- 
spired under  his  direction  he  will,  in  his  own  time  and 
way,  infallibly  answer :  "  For  he  that  searcheth  the 
hearts  knoweth  what  is  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  be- 
cause he  maketh  intercession  for  the  saints  accord- 
ing to  his  will." 

The  practical  value  of  this  theme  can  scarcely  be 
overestimated.  ■  It  has  relation  to  every  part  of  our 
Christian  life,  to  every  prayer  we  utter.     It  teaches  us : 

I.  The  true  test  of  real  prayer.  It  is  this:  No 
prayer  can  be  acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God  which 
has  not  the  Holy  Spirit  for  its  inspirer.  Much  that 
is  thought  to  be  prayer  is  no  prayer ;  many  a  "  let  us 
pray  "  is  uttered  where  no  true  prayer  follows.  Other 
ends  may  be  subserved  by  it,  a  useful  habit  may  be 


THE    HELP    OF    THE    SPIRIT    IN    PRAYER  387 

kept  Up,  Others  may  be  beneiited  by  our  example;  but 
God  accepts  it  not.  God  can  accept  no  prayer  that  is 
not  offered  in  accordance  with  his  will  by  a  heart 
in  sympathy  with  himself;  and  this  harmony  with 
God  can  come  to  a  sinful  soul  only  from  the  inworking 
and  power  of  his  Holy  Spirit.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
many  a  petition  which  we  are  tempted  to  call  no 
prayer  at  all  is  yet  true  prayer.  Though  expression 
may  be  lacking  and  the  words  may  lag  far  behind 
the  thought ;  yes,  though  the  only  exercise  of  the  mind 
may  be  an  indistinct  and  half-comprehended  longing, 
and  sighs  may  altogether  take  the  place  of  words,  yet  if 
God  and  holiness  and  salvation  are  its  object,  be  sure 
that  it  is  the  Spirit's  work,  and  that  he  who  hears 
and  understands  the  young  ravens  when  they  cry,  has 
heard  and  answered  the  cry  of  his  child.  What  en- 
couragement to  pray  is  given  us  in  this  assurance  to 
all  saints  that  the  Spirit  helpeth  their  infirmities,  and 
when  they  know  not  what  to  pray  for  as  they  ought, 
maketh  intercession  for  them ! 

2.  We  are  taught  to  value  and  improve  those  favor- 
able moments  when  the  Spirit  inclines  our  hearts  to 
pray.     The  Persian  poet  wrote  : 

Sayest  thou:  "Come,  Lord"?  that  means:  "Come,  child,  to  me," 
And  all  thy  glowing  sighs  God's  message  bring  to  thee. 

When  the  heart  trembles  with  dim  desires  for  better 
and  holier  things  in  our  own  experience  or  for  the 
redemption  of  others  from  sin,  desires  which  we  can- 
not describe  or  express,  let  us  court  and  woo  the 
Spirit,  for  his  influences  have  inspired  them;  let  us 
obey  the  impulse  that  leads  us  to  prayer,  for 


388  MISCELLANIES 

When   God   inclines   the   heart  to   pray, 
He  hath  an  ear  to  hear. 

Such  desires  are  among  the  foremost  indications  that 
the  Spirit  is  at  work  preparing  the  way  for  a  coming 
of  the  Lord  in  grace  and  power.  It  is  upon  the 
thirsty  ground  that  he  pours  out  streams  of  water, 
and  this  anxious  longing  for  the  grace  of  God,  this 
unuttered  oppression  of  the  heart  in  view  of  the  situa- 
tion of  the  ungodly,  this  impulse  to  renewed  self-con- 
secration, this  desire  that  cannot  be  satisfied  but  by 
frequent  turning  aside  to  pray,  this  is  God's  own  ap- 
pointed sign  that  his  Spirit  is  brooding,  as  in  the  begin- 
ning, upon  the  face  of  the  dark  and  troubled  waters 
and  preparing  for  the  utterance  of  the  mighty  creative 
words,  "  Let  there  be  light!  " 

3.  I  know  no  better  evidence  of  our  adoption  than 
this :  That  such  desires  are  ours.  They  are  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  Spirit  and  the  earnest  of  our  future  in- 
heritance. To  be  full  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  this  is  a 
foretaste  of  heaven.  I  do  not  envy  the  Christian  who 
never  knew  this  blessing,  and  has  no  consciousness 
that  the  Spirit  has  ever  helped  his  infirmities  and 
turned  his  weak  supplications  into  the  joy  and  strength 
of  assured  divine  communion.  I  will  not  say  that  one 
who  is  destitute  of  any  such  experience  is  destitute 
of  the  grace  of  God,  for  I  know  not  how  low  measures 
of  piety  Christ  may  see  to  be  still  real.  I  know  that 
many  a  prayer  uttered  in  unconsciousness  of  the  Spirit's 
presence  is  yet  inspired  by  him,  for  he  is  the  source 
of  every  holy  desire.  But  this  too,  I  know,  namely, 
that  a  conscious  presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost — a  con- 
scious help  of  the  Spirit  in  prayer — is  the  privilege  of 


THE    HELP    OF    THE    Sl'lKlT    IN    PKAYEK  3S9 

the  Christian,  and  if  so,  it  must  be  his  duty  to  Hve  in 
possession  of  it.  For  to  have  the  spirit  of  prayer  is 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  to  have  the  Spirit  of 
God  within  us,  helping  us  in  our  intercessions,  and 
this  gift  of  the  Spirit  has  been  purchased  for  his 
church  by  the  death  of  the  Saviour.  Every  believer 
in  Christ  without  exception  may  enjoy  the  rich  bless- 
ing of  that  gift.  The  possession  of  it  is  not  dependent 
on  natural  temper  or  intellectual  culture  or  past  worthi- 
ness of  life.  In  spite  of  our  weak  wills  and  unstable 
hearts,  we  may  have  it;  indeed,  if  these  are  our  pecu- 
liar infirmities,  we  cannot  do  without  it.  Not  to  have 
the  Spirit  within  us,  which  will  give  us  enjoyment 
in  God's  service  and  power  in  prayer,  after  all  this 
large  provision  for  its  supply,  is  an  inexcusable  neglect 
of  God's  greatest  and  most  precious  gift.  Indeed, 
when  we  consider  how  greatly  our  usefulness  is  im- 
paired by  the  lack  of  the  Spirit  in  our  hearts,  and  how 
great  influence  for  God  we  might  exert  if  we  once 
possessed  it,  does  not  its  attainment  seem  worth  any 
effort  or  any  sacrifice?  Does  not  the  continuance  of 
merely  formal  prayers  seem  a  great  sin  against  God? 
Would  to  God  that  we  might  break  over  these  bounds 
of  selfishness  which  narrow  down  the  wide  scope  of 
religion  till  it  becomes  altogether  a  matter  of  our 
own  personal  salvation.  Would  to  God  that  a  new 
baptism  of  the  Spirit  might  give  us  such  love  for 
souls  and  desire  for  their  salvation  that  we  should 
bring  them  one  by  one  and  lay  them  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus  as  they  brought  the  paralytic  of  old,  with  the 
steadfast  assurance  the  while  that  in  answer  to  our 
prayers  Jesus  would  pity  and  heal  them. 


390  MISCELLANIES 

4.  I  know  there  are  many  who  desire  to  gain  and 
to  keep  this  spirit  of  prayer.  But  how  to  get  it,  that 
is  their  question.  Resolve  then,  first  of  all,  that  with 
God's  help  you  will  put  to  the  test  his  promise  that 
more  readily  than  earthly  parents  give  good  gifts  to 
their  children,  God  will  give  his  Holy  Spirit  to  those 
who  ask  him.  Make  this  then  the  grand  object  of 
your  thoughts  and  efforts  and  rest  not  till  the  bless- 
ing is  yours.  You  may  not  gain  the  strong  assurance 
of  the  Spirit's  presence  with  you  all  at  once.  Sym- 
pathy with  God  and  confidence  in  him  are  plants  which 
are  rooted  only  through  many  trials;  and  after  the 
conscious  presence  of  the  Spirit  is  once  gained,  it 
may  be  easily  lost  by  self-trust,  vanity,  neglect,  trans- 
gression. You  must  not  seek  it  as  an  experiment  or 
as  a  gift  to  be  enjoyed  for  a  time,  put  to  some  special 
use,  and  then  thrown  away.  No ;  if  the  Holy  Spirit 
enters  the  soul,  it  is  to  abide  there,  and  to  reign 
supreme  there.  And  before  he  gives  himself  to  you, 
you  must  give  yourself  to  him. 

Come  then,  eternal  Spirit,  come 

From  heaven,  thy  glorious  dwelling-place; 
Come  make  my  sinful  heart  thy  home, 

And  consecrate  it  by  thy  grace. 
My  wants  supply;  my  fears  suppress; 

Direct  my  way  and  hold  me  up ; 
Teach  me  in  times  of  deep  distress 

To  pray  in  faith  and  wait  in  hope. 

5.  It  is  wonderful  that  any  door  should  be  barred 
against  the  entrance  of  this  sublime  divine  guest,  yet 
there  are  many  hearts  that  exclude  him.  Every  one 
of  us,  whether  saint  or  sinner,  might  have  his  inward 


THE    HELP    OF    THE    SPIRIT    IN    PRAYER  39 1 

presence  if  we  so  willed  it.  Even  now  indeed  in  the 
reproof  of  conscience  and  half-inclination  to  yield  our 
will  to  his  we  see  the  evidence  of  his  willingness  to 
come  and  dwell  w^ith  us.  This  evidence  would  be 
stronger  if  we  did  not  repress  the  desires  which  he 
excites  within  us.  You  may  judge  how  great  his 
desires  are  for  men's  salvation,  by  the  intense  longings 
and  unutterable  sighings  with  which  he  sometimes 
fills  the  hearts  of  Christians.  There  is  great  danger 
that  you  may  so  grieve  him  by  your  repeated  refusals 
that  he  will  never  come  to  you  again.  How  fearful 
a  thing  to  provoke  that  Spirit  who  alone  can  inspire 
you  to  pray  or  others  to  pray  for  you,  wdien  you  know 
that  without  prayer  you  can  never  be  saved !  Then 
let  him  into  your  heart  to-day !  When  you  go  to  your 
homes,  kneel  dowii  and  invite  him  to  abide  there.  If 
you  ask  him  sincerely  he  will  not  delay,  but  swifter 
than  the  wings  of  the  wind,  and  as  viewless  too,  he  will 
come  tO'  help  you  in  your  prayer,  and  assure  you  of 
your  own  salvation.  But  stop  not  there.  The  gift  of 
that  Spirit  makes  you  a  spiritual  priest  to  ofTer  up 
spiritual  sacrifice  and  intercession  for  others.  As 
Aaron,  wdien  he  w^ent  in  to  God,  wore  upon  his  breast 
the  glittering  breastplate  of  many-colored  stones  en- 
graved with  the  names  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
so  do  you  bear  upon  your  heart  the  name  of  this  one 
and  that  one  who  is  now  a  stranger  to  Christ,  and 
by  the  help  of  the  Spirit  make  daily  intercession  to 
God  for  them.  So  your  life,  being  connected  with  the 
divine  plans  and  ordered  by  the  divine  Spirit,  shall 
not  be  a  mere  blank  in  the  great  record  of  the  world, 
but  shall  bring  honor  to  God  and  blessing  to  mankind. 


XLV 
THE  CHRISTIAN'S  RESOURCES 


My  God  shall  supply  all  your  need  according  to  his  riches  in 
glory  by  Christ  Jesus.     (Phil.  4:  19.) 

"  My  God," — how  much  of  experience  and  confidence 
there  is  in  those  words !  God  was  not  a  far-off  God 
to  Paul.  No  more  building  altars  "  to  the  unknown 
god  "  as  heathendom  did,  groping  in  its  darkness  and 
longing  for  light,  or  as  modern  skepticism  does,  giving 
up  all  search  after  God  as  vain,  and  glad  on  the  whole 
that  it  is  so !  None  of  this  in  Paul,  but  the  knowledge 
of  God  as  one  revealed,  as  one  to  whom  he  is  bound 
by  living  ties  of  affection  and  daily  intercourse ;  as  one 
whom  he  can  wholly  trust!  "My  God," — yes,  there 
is  more  than  experience  and  confidence  in  the  words. 
There  is  the  sense  of  possession  and  the  immeasurable 
dignity  and  strength  involved  therein.  It  is  the  old 
cry  of  David  when  he  was  hunted  by  Saul  and  had  no 
earthly  wealth  and  no  earthly  helper,  "  O  God,  thou 
art  my  God!"  No  wealth?  no  helper?  Ah,  God 
was  his,  "  the  Lord  was  his  inheritance."  God  was 
"  the  strength  of  his  heart  and  his  portion  forever." 
So  Paul  could  say  that  God  was  his,  and  with  God 
all  the  open  treasuries  of  God's  grace  and  love.  Won- 
derful blessing  of  the  Christian  that  in  the  darkest 

'^  A   sermon    preached   in   the    Delaware   Avenue   Baptist    Church,    Buffalo, 
N.  Y.,  November  12,  1893. 


THE    CHRISTIAN  S    RESOURCES  393 

hour  he  may  say,  '"  God  is  mine."  Wonderful  help 
in  his  efforts  to  bring  others  to  God,  that  he  can  say 
to  them  as  Paul  did  from  the  consciousness  of  his  own 
great  possessions  in.  God  and  his  knowledge  of  the 
infinite  freeness  of  God's  love :  "  My  God  shall  supply 
all  your  need  according  to  his  riches  in  glory  by 
Christ  Jesus."  Paul  could  say  this  to  the  Philippians 
not  conditionally,  but  as  a  matter  of  prophecy,  since 
he  knew  that  in  all  their  weakness  and  persecution 
they  too,  like  himself,  had  the  living  God  for  their 
God.  So  I  feel  to-day  that  I  can  bring  this  promise 
to  you.  You  feel  that  you  have  many  needs,  needs 
which  only  God  can  supply.  Yes,  but  "  my  God  shall 
supply  all  your  need  according  to  his  riches  in  glory 
by  Christ  Jesus."  Let  us  reflect  a  little  upon  the  great: 
need,  the  great  supply,  and  the  great  method  of  this 
supply. 

I.  The  great  need — man  has  been  called  a  bundle 
of  needs.  Providence  seems  to  teach  him  this  lesson 
by  so  ordering  that  at  his  first  entrance  into  the  world 
he  shall  be  the  most  forlorn  and  helpless  of  all  crea- 
tures. The  young  of  the  animal  creation  may  live  and 
thrive  where  the  little  wailing  infant  will  only  die. 
But  we  are  not  only  dependent  for  life.  All  those 
things  that  make  life  desirable,  loving  companionship, 
moral  training,  the  place  and  the  instruments  of  labor, 
these  we  do  not  create  ourselves;  they  are  given  us. 
We  may  call  ourselves  self-made  men  as  much  as  we 
will;  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  self-made  man  upon 
the  planet.  Take  from  any  man  what  the  past  has 
given  him,  what  men  long  in  their  graves  have  wrought 
out  for  him,  of  experience  and  example,  of  intellectual 


394  MISCELLANIES 

and  moral  influence,  and  there  would  be  only  a  pitiable 
show  left  behind.  Success  in  this  world  is  not  so  much 
your  work  as  it  is  God's  gift.  You  ca.n  look  back 
on  many  a  companion  of  your  younger  days  whose 
youth  was  quite  as  hopeful  as  yours,  but  who  has  been 
floating  about  as  a  waif  upon  the  waters  while  your 
ship  has  come  safely  into  port.  Nothing  impressed 
me  more  solemnly  in  my  ride  in  Palestine  along  the 
Mediterranean  shore  than  the  many  wrecks  that 
strewed  the  sandy  beach  and  stretched  their  white 
skeleton  arms  up  into  the  balmy  air.  No  name,  no 
sign  to  tell  whence  they  came  or  whither  they  were 
bound,  when  they  went  to  pieces,  or  how  many  perished 
in  the  final  catastrophe.  They  seemed  to  have  sailed 
out  of  the  distant  past  and  to  have  left  their  bones 
as  a  warning  for  the  future.  There  have  been  many 
wrecks  of  ships  upon  the  sea — but  oh,  how  many  more 
of  human  lives!  Are  you  safe  and  prosperous  to- 
day? Thank  God  and  pity  those  who  are  even  now 
tossed  upon  the  deep? 

But  these,  after  all,  are  the  externals  of  human 
life;  "  the  life  is  more  than  meat,  and  the  body  is  more 
than  raiment.''  Have  you  ever  thought  that  life  itself 
is  not  only  an  original,  but  in  a  sense  a  continuous 
gift  of  God?  I  do  not  mean  that  preservation  is  a 
continuous  creation,  as  some  have  said ;  but  I  do 
mean  that  without  the  immanent  life  of  God  holding 
all  other  things  in  life,  there  could  be  no  life  for 
God's  creatures  or  for  any  one  of  them.  In  him 
we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being.  God  has  estab- 
lished such  things  as  second  causes  in  his  universe; 
matter  has  properties  of  its  own  and  is  not  a  dream. 


THE    CHRISTIAN  S    RESOURCES  395 

but  a  substantive  existence;  there  are  forces  at  work 
in  matter  and  in  mind.  Yet  none  of  these  second 
causes,  properties,  forces,  are  independent  of  Him  who 
made  them.  Only  as  he  sustains  their  energies  by  the 
exercise  of  his  Hving  will  can  they  exist  or  do  their 
work.  And  so  the  life-current,  that  keeps  flowing  even 
while  we  sleep,  would  never  flow  except  God  fed  the 
stream  continually  at  its  fountain.  All  our  life  is  from 
God.  both  at  the  first  and  now.  What  have  we  that 
we  have  not  received  ?  Why  nothing — absolutely  noth- 
ing— nothing,  that  is,  except  our  sins;  those  did  not 
come  from  him.  but  from  ourselves.  And  just  as  a 
needy  man  is  needier  still  when  sickness  gets  hold  of 
him,  so  we  are  made  the  neediest  of  the  needy  by  this 
disease  of  sin.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  keep  the  tide 
of  life  flowing  in  the  body.  It  is  a  greater  thing  to 
rescue  us  from  the  death  of  the  soul.  The  dry  stream 
in  the  depth  of  summer,  with  its  hot  stones  reflecting 
the  glare  of  the  sun,  its  mill-dam  broken  down,  and  the 
mill  dilapidated  and  in  decay,  this  is  only  a  faint  pic- 
ture of  man's  need  of  the  streams  of  God's  renewing 
and  life-giving  grace.  Ah,  it  hardly  illustrates  it  at 
all,  for  on  this  human  heart  of  ours  rests  a  load 
of  guilt  which  only  an  infinite  sacrifice  can  expiate ; 
clinging  to  it  is  a  pollution  which  nothing  but  the 
blood  of  God's  only  Son  can  ever  wash  away. 

Then  our  needs  do  not  cease  w'hen  we  are  brought 
back  to  God.  The  greatest  of  them  are  satisfied,  but 
we  are  more  conscious  of  those  that  remain.  We  are 
able  to  lay  our  own  personal  needs,  both  the  temporal 
and  the  spiritual,  upon  the  bosom  of  infinite  pity  and 
love,   and   to   feel   secure   that   all   things   shall   work 


396  MISCELLANIES 

together  for  our  good.  But  it  is  more  difficult  wlien 
others  are  connected  with  us  whose  interests  seem 
at  times  more  important  than  our  own.  John  Knox 
did  not  doubt  his  own  salvation  when  he  passed 
through  that  agony  of  prayer,  "  Lord,  save  Scotland 
or  I  die!"  It  was  the  burden  of  all  the  needs  of 
Christ's  church  that  rested  upon  him. 

And  there  is  this  about  such  times  of  need  that 
throws  some  light  upon  the  purpose  of  them.  They 
teach  us  how  valuable  are  the  interests  for  which  we 
pray  and  how  far  any  mere  human  power  is  from 
securing  them.  We  learn  how  utterly  dependent  the 
church  is  upon  God,  and  how  impossible  it  is  that 
God's  kingdom  should  prosper  without  the  constant 
presence  and  agency  of  God's  providence  and  Spirit. 
The  means  of  grace,  the  appointment  of  the  ministry, 
the  work  of  the  pastorate,  prayer  for  laborers  in  their 
raising  up,  their  training,  their  actual  service,  present 
themselves  in  their  true  light  as  ordinances  of  divine 
wisdom.  And  then  there  are  vows  of  new  self-devo- 
tion made,  and  prayers  of  naked  faith  uttered,  which 
God  may  see  to  be  the  prerequisites  of  success  and 
blessing  in  the  future.  It  was  the  prayers  of  the  cap- 
tivity that  prepared  the  joy  of  Israel's  return  from 
exile.  God  grant  that  revelation  of  your  needs  may 
prepare  the  way  for  an  abundant  answer  to  your 
prayers  from  him  who  hears  even  before  we  speak 
and  whose  gifts  exceed  the  largest  faith  of  his  children. 

II.  A  few  words,  secondly,  with  regard  to  the  great 
supply, — "  My  God  shall  supply  all  your  need."  Then, 
if  God  is  the  source  of  supply,  we  may  be  sure  that 
will  be  supply  worthy  of  a  God,  since  God  does  noth- 


THE    CHRISTIANS    RESOURCES  397 

ing  unworthy  of  himself.  When  God  gives  he  gives 
liberally  and  without  upbraiding.  He  might  upbraid 
us  for  our  sins,  and  for  our  abuse  of  gifts  already 
bestowed ;  but  no.  There  is  no  word  said  about  those. 
He  is  the  giving  God,  the  God  with  whom  giving  is  no 
episode  in  his  being,  but  whose  very  nature  it  is  to 
give.  If  Paul  had  stopped  here  it  would  have  been 
a  grand  assurance.  But  there  is  more  to  come.  He 
gives  us  the  measure  of  this  supply.  "  My  God  will 
supply  all  your  need  according  to" — what?  Your 
merits  ?  No !  the  Christian  would  feel  that  these  as- 
sured him  nothing  but  condemnation  before  God? 
"According  to"  your  customs?  your  human  customs 
of  giving?  No!  these  are  but  the  reflection  of  our 
only  half-sincere  and  only  half-liberal  hearts;  we  can 
put  no  dependence  upon  the  supply  that  finds  its  meas- 
ure here.  "According  to"  your  expectations?  No! 
for  our  unbelief  comes  in  again  and  again  to  prevent 
our  expecting  anything  from  God ;  or  if  we  expect  any- 
thing, to  prevent  us  from  expecting  anything  great  or 
valuable.  Small  gifts,  small  supplies — these  are  the 
things  we  deal  in  ourselves,  and  these  only  we  expect 
from  God.  Thank  God  these  are  not  the  measure  of 
his  gifts.  But  the  apostle  says:  "  My  God  shall  supply 
all  your  need  according  to  his  riches  in  glory  by  Christ 
Jesus." 

The  riches  of  his  glory;  this  can  mean  nothing  less 
than  that  transcendent  abundance  and  fulness  which 
characterizes  the  nature  and  the  acts  of  God.  God 
is  called  the  God  of  glory,  and  glory  is  said  to  belong 
to  him  before  suns  or  stars  were  made.  It  is  well 
for  us  to  remember  that  in  virtue  of  this  glory,  no 


398  MISCELLANIES 

self-revelation  ever  exhausts  God;  there  are  reserves 
of  power  and  grace  in  him,  when  the  largest  exhibi- 
tion of  them  have  been  made  to  mortals.  God's 
omnipotence  is  not  an  instinct  like  that  which  pan- 
theism supposes,  but  an  attribute  which  he  exercises 
according  to  his  will.  He  is  by  no  means  encompassed 
by  the  laws  of  nature  or  by  the  existing  universe. 
"  The  heaven  of  heavens  cannot  contain  him."  We 
may  look  upon  the  mightiest  works  of  his  hands,  and 
yet  say :  "  Lo,  these  are  parts  of  his  ways :  only  a 
whisper  is  heard  of  him,  but  the  thunder  of  his  power 
who  can  understand?"  In  God  is  an  inexhaustible 
fountain  of  new  beginnings,  new  creations,  new  revela- 
tions. Greater  than  any  threatenings  is  the  transcend- 
ence of -his  wrath.  Greater  than  any  promises  is  the 
far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory  that 
is  in  reserve  for  the  righteous.  And  yet  the  riches 
of  his  glory — the  infinity  of  his  majesty  and  power — 
that  which  eye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard  nor  hath 
entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  that  which  is  greater 
than  we  can  think  or  ask,  in  short,  the  unsearchable 
greatness  of  God,  is  declared  to  be  the  standard  and 
measure  of  God's  supply  of  his  people's  needs.  Their 
needs  in  life,  their  needs  in  death,  their  needs  in  sick- 
ness, their  needs  in  health,  their  needs  in  temptation, 
their  needs  in  prayer,  their  needs  in  labor,  their  needs 
in  rest,  their  needs  in  relation  to  his  church  on  earth, 
their  needs  in  the  great  world  of  spiritual  worship 
above;  all  these  shall  be  supplied  according  to  the 
riches  of  his  glory  in  Christ  Jesus. 

It  is  said  of  George  Peabody  that  during  his  last 
visit   to   this   country   he   was    so   overwhelmed    with 


THE    CHRISTIAN  S    RESOURCES  399 

applications  for  pecuniary  aid  to  this  and  that  benevo- 
lent object,  private  and  public,  that  one  day,  forgetting 
that  these  were  but  the  incidents  and  responsibilities 
of  wealth,  he  gathered  togethei;  more  than  a  thousand 
begging  letters  and,  in  a  fit  of  anger,  threw  them  into 
the  fire.  It  was  hardly  to  be  wondered  at ;  we  all  par- 
don him  when  we  think  of  the  millions  he  gave  away. 
But  when  I  heard  it,  it  set  me  thinking  of  the  millions 
of  such  applications  that  are  made  to  God,  hour  by 
hour  and  year  by  year,  all  over  the  world,  and  of  the 
infinite  reason  for  rejoicing  we  had  in  the  fact  that 
these  myriads  of  petitions  do  not  disturb  his  constant 
and  gracious  heart  nor  limit  his  regard  for  any  single 
suppliant,  however  humble.  On  the  other  hand,  he 
measures  his  giving  as  he  would  have  us  do,  by  the 
greatness  of  his  means,  and  though  he  is  so  infinite  in 
power,  he  gives  according  to  the  riches  of  his  glory. 
Try  but  this  one  promise  of  his  and  you  shall  find 
that  as  your  need  and  your  prayer  expand  God's 
heart  is  ever  larger  than  your  wants;  God's  willing- 
ness to  give  ever  more  perfect  than  your  willingness 
to  ask;  and  you  shall  find  yourselves,  in  the  reception 
and  enjoyment  of  his  abundant  gifts,  wondering  that 
you  ever  doubted  his  word,  wondering  that  you  did 
not  see  that  the  height  and  breadth  and  length  and 
depth  of  his  love  absolutely  surpasses  knowledge. 

One  word  only,  in  the  last  place,  upon  the  great 
method  of  this  supply  revealed  to  us  in  the  text: 
"  God  shall  supply  all  your  need  according  to  his  riches 
in  glory  by  Christ  Jesus."  This  phrase  "by  Christ 
Jesus  "  will  fail  to  make  its  proper  impression  upon  us, 
unless   we   remember   that   in   the   original   it   is   "  in 


400  MISCELLANIES 

Christ  Jesus,"  and  is  one  of  those  incessant  repetitions 
of  the  thought  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  channel, 
so  to  speak,  through  which  God's  grace  flows  to  men, 
and  the  only  reservoir  in  which  is  gathered  up  God's 
life  and  power  for  human  weal  and  salvation.  This 
name  of  Christ  may  serve  as  a  pledge  that  God  will 
bestow  his  gifts  in  all  their  fulness  upon  us.  None  of 
his  after-gifts  are  so  wonderful  and  precious  as  the 
first  gift  of  his  Son.  "  He  that  spared  not  his  own 
Son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall 
he  not  also  with  him  freely  give  us  all  things?" 
When  you  buy  the  watch  the  case  is  thrown  in ;  you 
pay  nothing  additional  for  that.  No  merchant  adds 
to  the  bill  for  the  paper  and  twine  that  wrap  it  up.  So, 
since  God  has  given  us  Christ,  all  other  blessings  are 
but  as  wrappings  and  incidentals  compared  with  him. 
We  may  expect  them  of  him  who  so  loved  us  as  to 
give  his  only-begotten  Son. 

And  then  the  phrase  implies  the  everlasting  condi- 
tion of  God's  giving  and  of  our  reception  also.  We 
must  be  in  Christ  in  order  to  receive,  in  communion 
and  living  fellowship  with  the  Saviour.  Not  to  the 
worldly  and  skeptical  is  this  promise  given  that  all 
their  needs  shall  be  supplied,  but  only  to  those  who, 
feeling  their  need  as  sinners,  have  believed  in  Jesus 
Christ  and  have  entered  into  spiritual  union  with 
him.  For  all  who  have  done  this,  for  all  who  can 
say,  "  I  am  in  Christ " ;  "  Christ  is  my  personal 
Saviour  " ;  "  I  live  a  life  of  faith  in  the  Son  of  God  " ; 
this  promise  is  applicable.  Having  sought  first  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness,  all  these  needed 
things  shall  be  added  unto  you.     ''  For  your  heavenly 


THE    christian's    RESOURCES  4OI 

Father  knoweth  that  ye  have  need  of  these  things  " ; 
you  have  but  to  ask  and  you  shall  receive,  not  accord- 
ing to  the  narrowness  of  human  giving,  but  according 
to  the  riches  of  God's  glory  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Yes,  brethren,  since  you  are  joined  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  renewed  by  his  Spirit,  and  kept  thus  far 
by  his  power,  this  promise  is  given  to  you :  "  God  will 
supply  all  your  need  according  to  his  riches  in  glory." 
You  are  in  Christ,  and  your  needs  are  far  more 
manifest  to  God  and  far  more  near  to  his  heart 
than  they  can  be  to  you.  He  may  try  your  faith 
by  delay,  but  it  will  be  but  to  make  that  faith  the 
stronger  and  prepare  you  for  a  greater  blessing. 
Honor  God  then  by  your  sense  of  need,  by  your  de- 
pendence not  upon  the  arm  of  man.  but  upon  him. 
Call  upon  him  with  the  confidence  that  he  will  grant 
you  precisely  what  you  need.  Expect  that  praying 
breath  shall  not  be  spent  in  vain,  and  just  so  sure  as 
God  lives,  his  word  will  be  fulfilled,  and  in  the  fulness 
of  his  blessing  you  shall  say :  "  This  is  our  God,  we 
have  waited  for  him." 

And  you  too.  dear  friends,  who  have  yet  no  shelter 
in  Christ,  and  no  supply  for  the  deepest,  greatest  needs 
of  your  nature,  I  pray  you  to  enter  into  this  fellow- 
ship of  the  Son  of  God  also,  that  with  us  you  may 
find  in  God  an  everlasting  portion  and  possession. 


XLVI 
THAT  WHICH  IS  PAST  ^ 

And  God  requireth  that  which  is  past,     (Eccl.  3:  15.) 

There  are  certain  days  in  our  lives  which  seem  espe- 
cially designed  as  days  of  sober  reflection  upon  the 
brevity  of  life  and  the  destiny  of  the  soul  beyond  the 
grave.  The  Sabbath  might  always  be  such  a  day  if 
we  would  rightly  use  it,  but  the  frequency  of  its  return 
too  often  blunts  our  sense  of  its  importance  and  makes 
it  like  all  other  days.  Then  there  are  birthdays,  when 
the  thought  comes  over  us  like  a  flood  that  we  are 
getting  onward,  onward  in  life's  journey,  and  that  soon 
at  the  best,  life's  journey  for  us  must  end.  There  are 
anniversary  days  too,  in  many  a  household,  which 
bring  a  deeper  sadness  with  them  because  they  revive 
the  memory  of  some  desolating  sorrow;  days  which 
stand  like  tombstones  here  and  there  along  the  green 
path  of  life;  days  whose  solemn  spiritual  influence  we 
cannot,  we  would  not  resist,  because  they  draw  us 
nearer  to  heaven  and  to  the  sainted  spirits  of  the  de- 
parted who  worship  there.  Yet  there  is  another  day 
which  seems  to  me  even  more  clearly  intended  in 
God's  providence  to  rouse  us  from  our  careless  dream- 
ing, to  arrest  us  in  our  absorbing  chase  after  the  noth- 

1  A  sermon  preached  in  the  First  Baptist  Church,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  on  the 
last  Sunday  evening  of  the  year. 

402 


THAT    WHICH    IS    PAST  4O3 

ings  of  time,  and  to  bring  us  face  to  face  with  the 
reahties  of  eternity.  Such  a  day  is  just  about  to  close; 
it  is  the  last  Sabbath  of  the  vanishing  year.  Many 
of  you  will  recollect  the  strange  air  of  authority  with 
which  the  ancient  mariner  in  Coleridge's  poem  stops 
the  wedding  guest  as  he  is  hastening  to  the  marriage 
feast.  No  opposition  or  remonstrance  can  withstand 
the  power  of  his  long  gray  beard  and  glittering  eye 
or  prevent  the  old  seafaring  man  from  recounting 
his  unearthly  tale : 

He  holds  him  with  his  glittering  eye — 

The  wedding  guest  stood  still, 
And  listens  like  a  three-years'  child: 

The  mariner  has  his  will. 

So  the  gaunt  form  of  the  dying  year  crosses  the  track 
of  each  one  of  us  to-night  and  demands  a  word  with 
us.  We  cannot  help  recognizing  his  claim  upon  us  for 
a  sober  hearing;  if  we  try  to  escape  from  his  admoni- 
tions, they  will  ring  in  our  ears  even  while  we  fly.  It 
is  only  reasonable  that  we  should  stop  and  listen.  We 
should  be  less  than  men  if  we  did  not  have  some  sense 
of  the  solemnities  of  these  few  closing  hours  of  the 
year.  Consider  at  what  a  point  of  time  we  stand! 
Before  this  present  week  shall  close  the  record  of  an- 
other year  will  be  finally  made  up  for  each  of  us,  with 
all  its  good  deeds  if  any  such  there  are,  with  all  its 
neglects  and  sins  also  written  there,  the  book  will  be 
shut  and  sealed;  not  a  page  can  be  rewritten  or 
obliterated,  not  a  line  or  a  word  can  be  added  to 
that  record  or  subtracted  therefrom;  just  as  it  is  when 
the  year  shall  close  it  shall  be  opened  by  the  Judge 


404  MISCELLANIES 

and  read  before  the  assembled  universe  at  the  last 
great  day.  For  "  God  reqtiireth  that  which  is  past." 
I  do  not  wonder  that  some  churches  have  felt  so 
deeply  the  impressive  solemnity  of  these  last  hours  of 
the  year  that  they  have  spent  them  in  watching  and 
prayer,  in  humble  confession  of  sin  and  imploring  of 
the  divine  favor.  We  do  not  need  to  follow  that  pre- 
cise custom,  it  may  degenerate  indeed  into  mere  super- 
stition; but  we  do  need  the  spirit  which  led  to  its  insti- 
tution ;  we  do  need  to  remember  that  for  every  idle 
word  that  we  have  spoken,  for  every  unholy  thought, 
for  every  act  unprompted  by  love  to  God,  we  must 
give  account  in  the  day  of  Judgment.  I  know  there  are 
some  who  cannot  understand  this  rigid  accountability. 
They  think  it  gives  a  dismal  aspect  to  life.  To  them 
the  only  wisdom  is  to  cry  with  the  poet,  "  Let  the  dead 
past  bury  its  dead,"  and  then  push  on  to  new  pursuits 
and  pleasures.  But  what  if  it  should  appear  that  "  God 
requireth  that  which  is  past  "  not  by  arbitrary  decree, 
but  in  accordance  with  a  law  imbedded  in  human  nature 
itself;  what  if  the  past  be  not  dead  but  living,  and  full 
of  power  to  convict  and  condemn;  what  if  the  sins  of 
months  and  years  gone  by  are  by  the  very  constitution 
of  our  souls  bound  to  us,  as  a  corpse  was  in  old  times 
bound  to  the  body  of  a  living  criminal,  bound  to  us  so 
that  we  cannot  cut  ourselves  loose  from  it;  what  if 
the  past  can  never  in  any  proper  sense  be  blotted  out 
for  the  sinner,  but  is  and  must  be  a  part  of  him 
forever?  This  is  the  truth,  I  verily  believe.  God's 
requisitions  are  not  arbitrary;  they  are  founded  in 
the  nature  of  things ;  they  are  expressions  of  what  must 
be  so  long  as  his  nature  is  what  it  is.     And  since  he 


THAT    WHICH    IS    PAST  405 

has  made  us  in  his  image,  his  laws  are  not  arbitrary 
with  respect  to  us;  they  find  their  justification  in  our 
human  nature  as  well  as  in  his  own.  The  subject  to 
which  I  call  your  attention  then  is  this :  The  evidences 
and  preparations  for  the  final  judgment  zuhich  appear 
in  the  very  nature  and  constitution  of  man. 

The  first  of  these  evidences  and  preparations  for  the 
final  judgment  I  find  in  the  fact  of  memory.  That  is 
a  wonderful  faculty  which  reconstructs  the  past  long 
after  it  has  seemed  buried  forever,  and  builds  up  again 
the  worn-out  fabric  of  our  former  lives.  The  wild 
legends  of  the  Middle  Ages  used  to  relate  that  Doctor 
Faustus  the  necromancer  could  summon  into  his  pres- 
ence the  forms  of  the  world's  dead  heroes  and  the 
queens  who  had  ruled  men  by  their  beauty  as  well  as 
by  their  wisdom.  But  this  power,  by  which  we  sum- 
mon into  the  chamber  of  memory  not  only  the  per- 
sons but  the  deeds  of  the  past,  is  stranger  than  the 
fictitious  tales  of  Doctor  Faustus.  It  is  not  altogether 
voluntary.  How  many  things  men  are  compelled 
to  remember  which  they  would  give  worlds  to  forget ! 
There  are  times  when  memory  becomes  a  tyrant  and 
a  tormentor,  and  its  victim  cries  to  God  like  David, 
"  Remember  not  the  sins  of  my  youth."  Are  there  not 
some  of  us  who  can  recall  critical  hours  when  the  moral 
and  spiritual  fate  of  a  child,  a  relative,  a  friend,  hung 
trembling  in  the  balance,  and  some  neglect  of  duty  on 
our  part,  some  evil  example  set  by  us,  some  act  of 
anger  or  some  secret  sin  jostled  the  scale  in  the  wrong 
direction,  and  we  became  the  procurers  and  helpers  in 
a  development  of  evil  character  which  has  not  ended 
yet,  and  whose  ultimate  results  no  eye  but  God's  can 


406  MISCELLANIES 

foresee  ?  Can  parents  ever  forget  such  sins  against  their 
children?  Can  Christians  ever  forget  such  neglect 
of  the  souls  whose  destiny  God  seemed  to  put  once  in 
their  hands?  Can  the  depraved  man  who  leads  an 
innocent  creature  astray  by  his  arts  or  his  example  ever 
forget  the  wrong  he  has  done  ?  Ah,  these  things  burn 
into  the  soul  and  at  times  they  give  exquisite  pain. 
Have  you  never  stood  by  the  coffin  of  one  who  had 
cared  tenderly  for  you  in  early  years,  and  while  you 
gazed  tearfully  upon  the  pallid  brow  so  calm  and  cold 
in  death,  had  the  thought  of  some  bitter  word  you 
had  once  spoken  or  some  undutiful  act  flashed  across 
your  mind  and  driven  you  almost  distracted  because  no 
confession  could  ever  be  heard  by  those  sealed  ears, 
no  word  of  kindness  could  ever  pass  those  marble  lips 
again  to  assure  you  that  you  were  forgiven  ?  Some 
years  since  the  Philadelphia  Lunatic  Asylum  held  con- 
fined within  its  walls  a  young  man  of  distinguished 
parentage,  whose  madness  led  him  to  stand  for  hours 
fixed  and  motionless  as  a  statue.  He  was  a  son  of 
the  celebrated  Doctor  Rush.  He  had  killed  a  man  in 
a  duel,  and  the  memory  of  that  fearful  morning  was 
too  much  for  his  sanity.  There  he  would  stand  im- 
movable till  suddenly  he  would  wake  to  recollection; 
he  would  pace  off  the  distance  and  give  the  word, 
"  Fire !  "  Then  crying  out,  "  He  is  dead !  he  is  dead !  " 
he  would  give  way  to  an  agony  of  grief  and  despair. 
Reason  had  almost  fled,  but  the  memory  of  one  great 
sin  remained  to  torment  him.  Would  any  price  be  too 
great  for  such  a  man  to  pay  for  some  draught  of  the 
waters  of  Lethe  which  would  enable  him  to  forget 
the  past?    And  yet  no  human  art  can  compound  such  a 


THAT    WHICH    IS    PAST  407 

draught;  no  man  can  blot  out  from  memory  the  record 
of  his  sins.  The  sins  which  seem  trivial  when  we  judge 
them  by  the  false  standards  of  the  world,  can  we  be 
sure  that  they  will  not  have  frightful  power  to  tor- 
ment us  when  the  things  which  divert  our  minds  from 
them  have  passed  away  and  memory  brings  them  un- 
ceasingly before  us  ?  Is  not  the  fact  that  we  can  never 
cut  loose  from  these  past  sins  or  cover  them  with  the 
mantle  of  forgetfulness,  a  manifest  preparation  for  the 
Judgment  ? 

I  am  not  speaking  now  of  some  mere  popular  notion 
that  is  without  reasonable  foundation.  Intellectual 
science  renders  it  more  than  probable  that  we  never  do 
really  forget  anything,  but  that  the  soul  preserves  a 
secret  record  in  memory  of  every  thought  and  impres- 
sion of  our  whole  lifetime.  As  a  late  writer  has  said: 
"  In  the  brain  of  man  impressions  of  whatever  he  has 
seen  and  heard,  nay,  even  the  vestiges  of  his  former 
thoughts  are  stored  up.  These  traces  are  most  vivid  at 
first,  but  by  degrees  they  decline  in  force,  though  they 
probably  never  completely  die  out.  During  our  waking 
hours,  while  we  are  perpetually  receiving  new  impres- 
sions from  things  that  surround  us,  such  vestiges  are 
overpowered  and  cannot  attract  the  attention  of  the 
mind;  but  in  the  period  of  sleep,  when  external  in- 
fluences cease,  they  emerge  from  oblivion  and  the 
mind  groups  them  into  the  fantastic  forms  of  dreams." 
Not  only  the  phenomena  of  dreams,  but  other 
strange  facts  of  mental  history  confirm  the  view  of 
this  writer.  We  all  have  experienced  the  marvelous 
return  to  our  minds  of  facts  and  feelings  which  seemed 
to  have  utterly  passed  from  our  memories.     Peculiar 


408  MISCELLANIES 

external  circumstances,  peculiar  clearness  of  mental 
vision  incite  us  to  explore  the  past,  and  lo !  persons 
and  things,  thoughts  and  deeds  which  have  long  been 
hidden,  come  to  light  again  and  march  in  solemn  array- 
before  us;  the  burial-places  of  memory  have  given  up 
their  dead.  We  have  all  read  the  narratives  of  men 
who  have  been  revived  after  suffering  apparent  death 
upon  the  gallows  or  by  drowning,  and  we  remember 
how  their  whole  lives  in  their  most  minute  details 
seemed  in  the  dying  struggle  to  pass  before  them  like 
the  scene  of  a  panorama,  and  every  little  act  of  sin, 
however  long  forgotten,  presented  itself  there  with 
startling  clearness  and  convicting  power.  These  facts, 
with  many  others  which  might  be  cited,  go  to  show 
that  there  is  not  only  a  recording  angel  in  heaven,  but 
one  within  us  who  inscribes  every  sin  in  indelible 
characters  on  the  tablets  of  the  mind.  And  what 
mighty  preparation  for  the  great  final  day  is  this  con- 
stant taking  down  of  testimony  for  the  trial,  which  is 
going  on  within  each  soul  before  me,  and  within  every 
soul  of  earth's  countless  populations !  When  the  Judge 
shall  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory,  it  is  written  that 
"  the  books  shall  be  opened."  Have  we  ever  reflected 
that  those  books  may  be  the  books  of  memory?  It 
is  no  arbitrary  decree  that  every  idle  word  we  have 
ever  spoken  shall  be  judged  there,  because  the  very 
constitution  of  our  minds  is  such  that  not  one  such 
word  can  escape  that  final  scrutiny;  if  God  kept  no 
account  against  us,  we  are  so  made  that  we  cannot  help 
keeping  account  against  ourselves.  The  record  is 
within  us;  there  in  memory  we  have  the  evidence  that 
God  will  bring  every  forgotten  thing  into  judgment. 


THAT    WHICH    IS    PAST  409 

I  said,  if  God  kept  no  account  against  us  there 
would  still  be  books  of  memory  full  of  accusing  records. 
But  does  not  the  very  fact  of  memory  in  us  show  that 
God  docs  keep  account?  When  we  cannot  forget,  is 
there  a  possibility  of  God's  forgetting?  God  has  made 
us  in  his  image,  and  our  consciousness  of  our  own 
thoughts  and  deeds  is  but  the  shadow  of  God's.  He 
knows  all  that  we  know;  he  knows  even  if  we  forget. 
The  Egyptians  symbolized  his  nature  by  the  figure  of 
an  eye  upon  the  top  of  a  scepter,  intimating  that  God 
was  all  eye  to  see  and  all  power  to  judge  the  trans- 
gressor. He  heard  the  words  spoken  by  the  king  of 
Israel  in  the  silence  and  secrecy  of  his  bedchamber. 
He  declares  that  he  follows  the  sinner  step  by  step 
with  his  eye.  He  that  made  the  eye,  shall  he  not  see  ? 
he  that  made  the  memory,  shall  he  not  remember? 
Ah,  my  friends !  memory's  record  within  us  will  not 
stand  alone  in  the  great  future  day,  God's  record-book 
shall  supplement  and  confirm  its  testimony. 

A  second  evidence  and  preparation  for  the  final 
judgment  is  that  law  of  our  natures  by  which  every 
act  and  thought  and  desire  leaves  a  permanent  impress 
upon  our  characters.  What  we  do  afifects  what  we 
arc.  Our  outward  acts  are  changing  our  inner  being, 
so  that  if  every  particle  of  our  past  lives  should  be  for- 
gotten and  the  records  of  God's  book  itself  should 
be  erased,  the  mere  state  of  our  souls  at  the  last  day 
would  show  sufficiently  what  our  lives  had  been.  There 
is  a  law  of  growth  by  which  every  external  influence 
combines  with  every  manifestation  of  the  internal  life 
to  produce  our  final  settled  characters ;  but  no  external 
influence   alone   can   affect   us.      There   must   be   the 


4IO  MISCELLANIES 

suborning  of  that  influence  by  an  evil  will  before  it 
can  harm  us;  a  righteous  purpose  must  bring  it  into 
subservience  before  it  can  do  us  good.  "  Out  of  the 
heart  proceed  evil  thoughts,  murders,  adulteries,  for- 
nications, thefts,  false  witness,  blasphemies."  Climate 
and  example  and  circumstances  do  not  of  themselves 
make  men  sinners  as  some  philosophers  would  have 
us  think.  Sin  has  its  origin  in  us  and  not  outside  of 
us.  Yet  every  sinful  thought  and  act  has  a  reflex 
influence  upon  the  heart  from  which  it  springs,  and 
the  soul  gets  from  the  habitual  tone  of  these  its  com- 
plexion and  character. 

I  might  illustrate  what  I  mean  by  the  different  effects 
of  sad  and  happy  thoughts,  of  virtuous  and  vicious  de- 
sires upon  the  countenance.  No  man  can  habitually 
keep  a  happy  heart  without  showing  it  in  his  face.  The 
mind  is  forever  chiseling  away  at  the  features  and  re- 
producing its  own  likeness  there.  The  discontented, 
irritable,  morose,  hateful  soul  will  inevitably  give  a 
scowl  to  the  countenance.  And  so  you  have  seen  faces 
that  seemed  like  walking  pestilences,  faces  where  every 
lust  in  the  catalogue  had  set  its  seal,  faces  that  pierced 
your  heart  as  with  a  dagger  when  you  passed  them, 
faces  in  which  a  whole  lifetime  of  drunkenness  and 
debauchery  was  pictured  out.  What  made  them  so? 
Did  they  become  so  all  at  once?  No!  single  acts  of 
shame  and  sin  had  one  by  one  left  their  impress  there; 
there  had  been  a  gradual  growth  in  hideousness;  be- 
ginning in  the  secret  sins  of  youth,  it  had  come  at  last 
to  be  a  manifestation  of  hidden  iniquity  that  needed  no 
witnesses  for  confirmation.  And  just  as  good  and 
evil  thoughts  leave  their  marks  on  the  countenance,  so 


THAT    WHICH    IS    PAST  4II 

love  to  God  and  good  deeds  to  men  or  dislike  of  God 
and  disobedience  of  his  commands  leave  their  marks 
on  the  soul.  Every  sin,  however  trivial,  makes  a 
wound;  heal  it  over  as  you  may,  the  scar  will  be  left, 
and  there  it  will  remain  until  the  Judgment.  The 
first  evil  act  drives  the  nail  in;  the  repetition  of  the  act 
drives  it  deeper  and  deeper  still.  And  when  the  soul 
comes  before  God's  bar,  unbelief,  pride,  impurity, 
falsehood,  whatever  the  sin  may  be,  will  be  written,  so 
to  speak,  upon  the  very  features  of  the  soul,  and  there 
will  be  but  little  need  of  further  witness  against  it. 
Aye,  there  shall  be  many  who  now  show  fairly  in  the 
eyes  of  men,  but  who  shall  appear  there  when  the  secret 
sins  shall  be  revealed,  all  covered  with  wounds  and 
bruises  and  putrefying  sores. 

In  the  Diary  of  Kitty  Trevylyan  we  have  the  report 
of  a  sermon  by  John  Nelson,  one  of  the  early  Metho- 
dists, which  expresses  this  idea  as  a  part  of  his  own 
experience  at  conversion.  He  heard  the  account  of 
the  Judgment  read  from  the  book  of  Revelation  and 
as  he  listened  the  scene  seemed  to  pass  before  him. 
"Oh,  what  a  scene  was  that!"  he  cries.  "It  was 
as  if  I  had  seen  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  sitting  on  his 
throne  with  the  twelve  apostles  below  him,  and  a  large 
book  open  at  his  left  hand,  and  as  it  were,  a  bar 
fixed  about  ten  paces  from  the  throne  to  which  the 
children  of  Adam  came  up ;  and  every  one.  as  he 
approached,  opened  his  breast  as  quick  as  a  man 
could  open  the  bosom  of  his  shirt.  On  one  leaf  of 
the  book  was  written  the  character  of  the  children 
of  God,  and  on  the  other  the  character  of  those 
who  should  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.     I 


412  MISCELLANIES 

thought  neither  the  Lord  nor  the  apostles  said  any- 
thing, but  every  soul  as  he  came  up  to  the  bar  com- 
pared his  conscience  with  the  book  and  then  went  away 
to  his  own  place,  either  singing  or  else  crying  and 
howling.  Those  that  went"  to  the  right  hand  were  but 
like  the  stream  of  a  small  brook,  but  the  others  were 
like  the  flowing  of  a  mighty  river."  This  description 
of  the  Judgment,  like  all  others,  makes  use  of  material 
figures  to  express  spiritual  truths,  but  is  there  not  a 
mighty  power  and  meaning  in  that  tearing  open  of  the 
bosom  and  baring  of  the  heart  before  God  and  the 
universe — that  heart  that  carries  in  itself  the  evidences 
of  sin  and  needs  no  accusation  or  sentence  from  the 
Judge  to  send  it  howling  down  to  its  own  place? 

And  is  not  this  law  of  character  by  which  sin  leaves 
its  indelible  marks  upon  us  and  binds  itself  inseparably 
to  us,  a  constant  reminder  that  God  requireth  that 
which  is  past  ?  We  are  so  made  that  we  cannot  escape 
from  the  consecjuences  of  disobedience,  because  we 
cannot  escape  from  ourselves.  Forgetfulness  of  the 
penalty  will  not  hinder  it  from  falling  upon  us.  The 
sinner's  own  moral  vileness  and  unlikeness  to  God  is  in 
itself  an  ever-growing  penalty  which  will  make  heaven 
a  hateful  abode  and  hell  the  only  refuge  for  his  shame. 
And  yet  this  effect  of  sin  upon  himself  to  make  him 
evil  and  hateful  in  character  is  only  a  faint  reflection  of 
the  effect  of  his  sin  upon  God.  God  hates  it  more  than 
we  can.  Sin  not  only  drives  the  sinner  from  God,  but 
drives  God  also  from  the  sinner.  When  Milton  de- 
scribes the  first  sin  as  followed  by  the  shock  of  an 
earthquake,  in  which  all  nature  shuddered  and  gave 
signs  of  woe,  he  does  not  mean  to  impute  to  nature  a 


THAT    WHICH    IS    PAST  4I3 

consciousness  of  her  own,  but  only  to  represent  her  as 
expressing  God's  repulsion  from  moral  evil.  The  elTect 
of  sin  upon  the  individual  soul  is  but  the  counterpart  to 
another  effect  upon  the  whole  system  of  God,  and 
both  together  are  evidences  and  preparations  for  God's 
vindication  of  his  defiled  creation  and  violated  holiness. 
A  third  and  last  evidence  of  the  truth  contained  in 
the  text  is  furnished  by  the  dependent  and  relative 
nature  of  conscience.  By  this  I  mean  the  fact  that 
though  conscience  is  perpetually  declaring  judgment 
against  sin,  and  asserting  complete  authority  over  every 
other  part  of  our  nature,  she  does  this  always  as  one 
who  has  no  power  to  enforce  her  own  decrees,  but 
who  merely  declares  the  verdicts  of  One  who  is  higher 
than  she  is  and  who  will  sooner  or  later  carry  them 
into  certain  execution.  Let  me  illustrate  what  I  mean 
by  this  dependent  and  relative  nature  of  conscience. 
You  read  every  week  in  the  newspapers  of  money 
anonymously  sent  to  the  treasury  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment, money  which  the  sender  declares  to  belong  to 
the  United  States.  There,  of  course,  is  a  hidden  story 
of  fraud  or  peculation.  A  man  has  robbed  the  govern- 
ment, but  no  one  knows  of  the  crime ;  there  is  no  possi- 
bility of  detection.  What  is  it  that  leads  to  the  restora- 
tion of  the  stolen  sum?  Ah,  it  is  conscience!  Con- 
science denounces  the  wrong,  threatens  vengeance, 
fills  the  man's  mind  with  fears.  What  does  he  fear? 
Man's  judgment,  exposure,  disgrace?  No;  he  might 
go  to  his  grave  unsuspected.  Is  it  conscience  herself 
that  he  fears?  No;  conscience  has  no  power  to  execute 
her  threats ;  he  might  treat  them  as  he  treats  the 
whistling  of  the  wind  if  it  were  not  for  the  conviction 


414  MISCELLANIES 

he  has  in  his  secret  soul  that  the  law  which  conscience 
reveals  is  the  reflection  of  God's  law,  that  the  judgment 
of  conscience  is  the  evidence  of  God's  judgment,  that 
the  threatenings  of  conscience  are  premonitory  mutter- 
ings  of  the  storm  of  God's  anger.  If  conscience  were 
severed  from  all  connection  with  God  he  could  brave 
her  admonitions;  but  because  she  is  God's  representa- 
tive, God's  vicegerent,  God's  voice  within  his  soul,  he 
cowers  and  shrinks  before  her.  And  in  this  dependent 
and  relative  nature  of  conscience,  recording  as  she 
does  God's  verdict,  predicting  God's  sentence,  never 
executing  her  own  decrees,  but  solemnly  assuring  the 
soul  that  though  long  delayed  the  execution  shall  surely 
come,  in  this  we  have  the  witness  of  human  nature  it- 
self to  the  certainty  of  a  future  judgment,  or  else 
human  nature  is  a  lie  and  God  has  made  it  to  lie. 

Consider  then  how  awful  is  the  meaning  of  these 
repeated  verdicts  of  conscience  against  us.  They  are 
only  signals  to  us  of  corresponding  verdicts  of  almighty 
God  against  us.  The  sinner  is  a  debtor  against  whom  a 
hundred,  yes,  ten  thousand  separate  judgments  have 
been  granted,  and  over  whose  head  all  these  are  held 
by  a  single  creditor  to  whom  he  is  an  enemy.  Con- 
science has  been  heaping  up  these  unexecuted  judg- 
ments for  years  against  him,  each  time  declaring  the  cer- 
tainty of  a  final  process  in  which  the  combined  weight 
of  them  all  shall  be  brought  down  upon  him.  Not  one 
sin  of  the  past  year  or  of  our  whole  lives  is  left  out  of 
that  account ;  each  one  is  marked  down  against  the 
reckoning  day.  Even  the  heathen  saw  in  conscience 
the  echo  of  God's  voice,  and  declared  that  "  the  sins 
of  men  leaped  instantly  into  heaven  and  were  writ 


THAT    WHICH    IS    PAST  415 

on  the  parchments  of  Jupiter."  And  the  book  of  Job, 
one  of  the  most  ancient  books  of  the  Bible,  has  an 
expression  showing  how  the  earHest  races  found  this 
idea  answering  to  their  inward  consciousness :  "  My 
transgression  is  sealed  up  in  a  bag,"  says  Job,  "  and 
thou  sewest  up  mine  iniquity."  It  was  the  custom  then, 
as  in  later  times,  to  sew  up  a  certain  amount  of  gold  in 
a  bag,  which  was  then  sealed  and  labeled,  and  passed 
current  for  the  amount  specified  on  the  label.  Thus 
God  accurately  weighs  and  estimates  our  sins,  so  that 
not  one  of  them  is  lost  from  his  account.  The  long 
list  is  preserved  in  heaven,  though  many  of  its  items 
have  passed  from  our  minds  on  earth. 

We  do  not  need  to  go  beyond  our  own  natures  then 
to  find  evidence  of  a  future  Judge  before  whom  we  are 
to  stand,  and  a  future  tribunal  at  which  we  are  -to 
render  up  account.  That  fearful  looking-for  of  judg- 
ment and  fiery  indignation  which  oppresses  the  sinner's 
heart  when  he  peers  into  the  darkness  beyond  the  grave 
is  no  vagary  of  an  excited  imagination ;  it  is  God's 
prophecy  of  the  coming  storm.  There  have  been  men 
who,  even  this  side  the  grave,  seemed  to  experience 
by  anticipation  the  agonies  of  those  who  are  forever 
banished  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  men  who  have 
rejected  the  mercy  of  God  under  the  clearest  light  and 
the  most  aggravated  circumstances,  and  so  knew  them- 
selves hopelessly  lost,  men  like  the  nobleman,  of  w-hom 
the  venerable  Bede  tells  us  in  his  "  Chronicles,"  that 
in  his  last  sickness  he  answered  every  exhortation  of 
the  clergy  with  the  despairing  w'ords :  "  It  is  too  late 
now,  for  I  am  judged  and  condemned."  But  oh,  how 
far  short  of  the  truth  do  our  deepest  convictions  come ! 


4l6  MISCELLANIES 

"  If  our  heart  condemn  us,  God  is  greater  than  our 
heart,  and  knoweth  all  things."  Remember  then, 
dear  unconverted  friends,  that  in  conscience  you  have 
an  evidence  and  preparation  for  the  Judgment,  and 
that  its  threatenings  and  anxious  unrest  have  a  mean- 
ing to  you  far  more  solemn  than  you  have  ever  yet 
conceived.  Do  not  treat  them  then  as  ill  feelings  which 
are  to  be  put  out  of  mind  and  forgotten,  for  as  often 
as  they  come  to  you  they  come  from  God,  they  urge 
repentance,  they  repeat  in  various  words  and  forms  tlie 
one  great  truth,  that  "  God  requireth  that  which  is 
past." 

At  the  close  of  the  twelvemonth  the  merchant  strikes 
a  balance  of  his  accounts,  estimates  his  profits,  pays  his 
indebtedness,  and  prepares  for  a  new  start  with  the 
opening  year.  It  will  be  well  for  all  of  us  to  do  like- 
wise in  our  accounts  with  God.  There  is  great  danger 
in  allowing  God's  accounts  against  us  to  run  on  from 
year  to  year  unexamined  and  unsettled.  They  will 
easily  become  so  large  as  to  confound  us  and  ruin  us 
in  the  payment.  Set  down  your  good  deeds  and  your 
evil  deeds  for  the  past  year  and  see  how  you  will  come 
out.  When  you  put  down  the  good,  remember  that 
God  calls  nothing  truly  good  which  does  not  proceed 
from  love  to  him  and  desire  for  his  glory.  When  you 
put  down  the  evil,  remember  that  every  act  and  word 
and  thought  of  the  past  year  which  has  not  been  holy 
and  sincere  and  loving  is  a  violation  of  God's  law, 
and  must  be  set  down  against  you.  There  have  been 
a  half-million  or  more  minutes  during  the  past  year. 
During  how  many  of  those  have  you  obeyed  God's 
command  to  love  him  with  all  your  heart  and  might 


THAT    WHICH    IS    PAST  4I7 

and  mind  and  strength,  and  your  neighbor  as  yourself? 
For  every  minute  when  you  have  failed  to  obey  that 
command  you  must  put  yourself  down  as  God's  debtor. 
During  how  many  of  these  minutes  of  the  year  have 
you  forgotten  God  and  had  every  thought  and  aim 
concentrated  upon  your  own  interest  and  pleasure? 
Every  such  minute  has  marked  the  commission  of  a 
sin.  And  how  does  the  account  stand?  Ah,  my 
brethren,  my  friends,  do  w^e  not  see  how  overwhelming 
is  the  balance  that  lies  against  us  on  God's  books?  If 
God's  hand  should  write  it  out  before  us  in  letters  of 
fire  as  he  wrote  it  upon  Belshazzar's  palace  wall,  would 
not  our  countenance  change  like  his,  and  our  frame 
shake  with  fear  as  we  read :  "  Mene,  Mene,  Tekel, 
Upharsin, — thou  art  w^eighed  in  the  balances  and  art 
found  wanting!  " 

Yes,  we  are  utterly  bankrupt.  Our  wickedness  is 
great,  and  our  iniquities  infinite,  and  by  the  deeds  of 
the  law  there  shall  no  flesh  be  justified  in  his  sight. 
Taking  only  the  past  year  into  the  account,  the  accumu- 
lation of  trespasses  is  such  that  the  good  deeds  of  a 
lifetime  could  not  blot  them  out.  Nothing  that  we  can 
ever  do  can  blot  out  one  of  them;  for,  after  all,  this 
balancing  of  good  deeds  against  the  evil  is  only  a 
figure  of  speech.  No  array  of  good  actions  can  ever 
atone  for  one  evil  deed.  The  criminal  convicted  of 
crime  can  never  be  acquitted  on  the  plea  that  the  one 
evil  deed  was  balanced  by  many  good  ones.  Is  there 
anything  then  that  can  balance  this  long  account  of 
sins?  Is  there  anything  that  can  hide  this  fearful  list 
so  that  we  shall  not  see  it  any  more  ?  And  more  than 
that — for  that  is  very  little — so  that  God  shall   not 


4l8  MISCELLANIES 

see  it,  nor  bring  it  up  against  us  either  in  this  Hfe 


or  in  the  hour  of  death  or  in  the  day  of  Judgment? 
Yes,  there  is — ^blessed  be  God,  there  is !  The  red  lines 
of  Jesus'  blood  can  cancel  it  all  and  hide  a  multitude  of 
sins;  his  righteousness  can  be  placed  in  the  balance 
against  our  unrighteousness;  his  Spirit  can  cleanse  us 
from  an  evil  conscience  and  make  our  dark  and  unclean 
hearts  as  pure  and  white  as  the  snow.  That  blood, 
that  righteousness,  that  Spirit,  may  be  ours.  They  are 
offered  to  us  by  the  Saviour,  and  we  may  have  them 
whenever  we  will  take  them  in  penitence  and  faith. 
In  a  felon's  cell  there  lies  a  fellow-being  whose  life 
is  forfeited  by  an  act  of  murder.  There  he  lies,  the 
fearful  record  of  the  past  behind  him,  around  him  only 
prison-walls  and  bars,  before  him  only  a  little  way 
ahead,  clothed  with  all  its  terrors  as  the  instrument  of 
justice,  the  awful  form  of  the  gallows.  If  some 
competent  authority  could  only  enter  that  cell  to-night 
and  say :  "  Rise,  here  is  your  pardon ;  the  past  is  blotted 
out;  you  are  free!"  would  there  not  be  joy  in  that 
poor  sinful  heart?  Would  he  wait  long  before  accept- 
ing his  freedom?  Dear  friend,  if  you  are  still  in  your 
sins  your  soul  is  in  a  spiritual  prison,  from  which 
escape  is  more  hopeless  still.  Your  own  nature  is 
your  prison.  In  memory  and  character  and  conscience 
you  may  read  that  judgment  is  passed  upon  you,  that 
death  is  before  you.  But  there  is  One  who  has  pity  on 
you,  who  has  by  untold  pains  and  sufferings  purchased 
your  release.  It  is  Christ  the  Lord ;  he  comes  and 
brings  you  pardon,  offers  you  freedom,  promises  entire 
oblivion  of  the  past  and  complete  restoration  to  his 
favor.    He  comes  again  at  this  most  solemn  time  of  all 


THAT    WHICH    IS    PAST  4I9 

the  year  to  press  upon  you  your  need  of  his  help  and 
the  fuhiess  of  his  salvation.  Accept  his  offer  now, 
before  another  neglected  opportunity,  another  rejected 
warning,  is  added  to  the  long  list  of  your  transgres- 
sions! The  last  hours  of  the  year  are  passing — a  few 
days  more  and  the  account  will  be  closed  until  the 
heavens  be  no  more.  Oh,  let  the  dear  Redeemer  write 
"  canceled  "  across  that  dreadful  catalogue  of  sins  be- 
fore it  is  sealed  forever,  and  help  you  to  begin  a  new 
year  of  holy  obedience  and  of  Christian  trust.  Then 
when  God  requires  that  which  is  past  and  summons 
you  before  him  in  judgment,  Christ  the  advocate  of 
sinners  will  answer  for  you  and  present  you  faultless 
before  the  presence  of  his  glory  with  exceeding  joy. 


XL  VII 

ADDRESSES  TO  GRADUATING  CLASSES 

OF  THE  ROCHESTER  THEOLOGICAL 

SEMINARY  FROM  1900  TO  1912 

1900 

LOYALTY 

Brethren  of  the  Graduating  Class  :  Both  you 
and  we  have  much  to  be  thankful  for  to-day.  We  are 
grateful  that  we  can  close  the  first  fifty  years  of  the 
seminary's  work  by  presenting  to  the  churches  the 
largest  class  we  have  ever  sent  out.  You  are  grate- 
ful, I  am  sure,  for  the  homogeneity  and  harmony 
which  have  made  your  class-work  successful  and  de- 
lightful. You  are  the  Class  of  1900.  The  round  num- 
bers signify  the  ending  of  the  old  and  the  beginning 
of  the  new.  A  new  century  will  soon  dawn  upon 
you,  with  both  opportunities  and  responsibilities  such 
as  neither  you  nor  your  fathers  have  ever  known.  We 
cannot  tell  where  God  may  lead  you,  what  intellectual 
problems  you  may  have  to  solve,  what  practical  diffi- 
culties you  may  have  to  overcome.  We  hope  that  out- 
ward and  visible  success  may  be  yours ;  whether  you 
will  attain  it  is  known  only  to  God.  For  only  one 
thing  can  we  offer  the  prayer  of  faith,  namely,  that 
you  may  to  your  last  breath  be  loyal  servants  of  Jesus 
420 


LOYALTY  421 

Christ.     Let  me  say  a  few  words  to  you  then  about 

LOYALTY. 

Loyal,  leal,  legal,  are  all  forms  of  the  same  root, 
and  they  hark  back  to  the  word  which  means  laiv. 
Loyalty  recognizes  a  law  that  binds  us,  a  Providence 
that  relates  us  to  others,  a  supreme  Will  that  lays  us 
under  obligation.  To  be  loyal  is  to  be  true  to  any 
person  or  principle  or  institution  or  cause  to  which  we 
owe  fidelity.  But  loyalty  is  not  a  matter  of  the  head 
so  much  as  of  the  heart.  It  is  more  than  cold  legality. 
It  is  the  warm  subjective  assent  of  the  will,  of  the 
soul,  of  the  whole  being,  to  the  claims  which  our 
various  relationships  impose. 

I  have  heard  the  story  of  a  bright  young  man  whom 
his  father  and  mother  sent  to  college.  In  their  poor 
country  home  they  delved  and  spun  to  provide  the 
means.  He  made  a  brilliant  record  and  was  much 
sought  after  in  society.  At  length  the  day  of  gradua- 
tion dawned,  and  the  parents  who  had  scraped  and 
saved,  in  order  to  make  his  success  possible,  pre- 
sented themselves  in  their  homespun  in  the  college 
town  to  witness  the  triumphs  of  their  son.  But  the 
boy  was  ashamed  of  them  in  their  humble  garb;  he 
kept  them  in  the  background ;  no  one  of  all  his  friends 
was  permitted  to  know  that  they  were  his  parents. 
And  they  to  whom  he  owed  all  learned  that  day  how 
sharper  than  a  serpent's  tooth  it  is  to  have  a  thankless 
child.  If  there  is  any  sin  that  deserves  the  torments 
of  hell  it  is  filial  disloyalty. 

On  the  other  hand,  frank  and  generous  recognition 
of  our  family  ties,  even  though  it  involves  the  care 
of   poor   relations,    is   the   noble   thing.      "Am   I   my 


422  MISCELLANIES 

brother's  keeper?  "  was  the  utterance  of  the  first  mur- 
derer. But  Ruth,  leaving  home  and  country  and 
coming  into  the  land  of  the  stranger,  has  been  an  ex- 
ample of  filial  constancy  through  all  these  intervening 
ages.  Early  friends  and  neighbors  come  next  to  one's 
own  family.  Robert  Burns  left  the  belted  earl  with 
whom  he  was  walking  in  the  streets  of  Edinburgh 
to  talk  with  a  rough  and  hearty  countryman  from  his 
own  county  of  Ayr;  and,  when  the  earl  reproved  him 
for  companying  with  one  who  wore  such  a  coat,  re- 
plied, "  I  wasna  talking  with  the  coat, — I  was  talking 
with  the  man." 

All  the  world  loves  a  lover,  it  is  said.  It  is  largely 
because  we  see  in  him  an  example  of  this  loyalt>  : 

The  span  o'  life's  nae  lang  eneugh, 

Nor  deep  eneugh  the  sea, 
Nor  braid  eneugh  this  weary  warld 

To  part  my  love  frae  me. 

Will  the  true  woman  betray  the  man  she  loves  ?    Not 

Till  a'  the  seas  gang  dry,  my  dear, 
An'  the  rocks  melt  wi'  the  sun. 

The  lark  soars  into  the  sky  and  sings  as  it  soars, 
but  it  never  forgets  its  nest  and  the  young  ones  cradled 
there.  So  Wordsworth  calls  it,  "  True  to  the  kindred 
points  of  heaven  and  home." 

Without  marital  fidelity  the  bonds  that  unite  us  in 
society  would  be  broken.  Not  only  many  a  man's 
faith  in  man,  but  also  many  a  man's  faith  in  God,  is 
bound  up  with  faith  in  his  wife,  and  her  loyalty  to 
him  enables  him  to  understand  the  love  of  Christ: 

"  For  I  am  fickle,"  Fortune  saith, 
"But  love  is   faithful  unto  death." 


LOYALTY  423 

Association  for  several  years  with  a  college  or  sem- 
inary class  binds  us  forever  to  some  men  whom  we 
have  made  our  friends,  and  the  long  process  of  the 
years  only  makes  the  tie  more  sacred.  But  we  are 
bound  not  only  to  those  who  are  our  special  friends 
among  our  classmates,  but  to  all  who  are  members  of 
the  class.  Loyalty  to  this  Class  of  1900  will  lead  you 
to  hold  together  in  affection,  so  long  as  any  two  of  you 
shall  live,  to  seek  the  good  of  each  classmate,  to  work 
for  his  advancement,  to  defend  his  honor,  to  help 
his  influence,  to  pray  for  his  true  success.  And  a 
genuine  loyalty  to  this  seminary  will  make  you  eager 
to  send  men  here  to  fill  your  places,  to  help  its  finan- 
cial interests,  to  stand  for  its  good  name,  and  to  in- 
voke the  blessing  of  God  on  its  teachers  and  students, 
so  long  as  the  institution  stands  and  stands  for  Christ. 
There  was  no  nobler  characteristic  of  Daniel  Webster 
than  his  loyalty  to  Dartmouth  College.  When  he 
addressed  the  chief  justice  with  the  words :  "  It  is,  sir, 
a  small  college, — and  yet  there  are  those  who  love 
it,"  the  great  man  broke  down,  and  the  whole  court- 
room was  in  tears.  Colleges  and  seminaries  are  strong 
only  as  they  can  depend  on  the  loyalty  of  their  sons. 
Thank  God,  that  loyalty  grows  with  time,  with  new 
experience  of  the  power  which  education  gives,  and 
with  new  sense  of  the  preciousness  of  early  friend- 
ships and  the  molding  influence  of  early  examples. 

It  is  worth  one's  while  to  have  intercourse  with  the 
men  of  commerce  and  trade  for  the  mere  sake  of 
learning  the  ideals  that  attract  them.  Some  of  those 
ideals  are  material  and  sordid.  But  others  are  lofty, 
taking  hold  on  things  unseen  and  eternal,  and  having 


424  MISCELLANIES 

in  them  something  of  God's  righteousness.  There 
is  a  business  integrity  which  esteems  the  pledged 
word  as  sacred  as  life.  It  is  worth  while  to  know 
something  of  soldiers.  There  is  a  patriotism  that  will 
make  any  sacrifice  for  honor  and  for  country.  Reg- 
ulus  goes  back  to  Carthage  in  fulfilment  of  his  prom- 
ise, though  he  well  knows  that  he  goes  back  to  die. 
On  the  battlefield  of  Sedan,  King  William  learned 
that  one  of  his  bravest  young  officers  had  been  mor- 
tally wounded.  He  went  directly  to  the  tent  where 
life  was  ebbing  rapidly  away.  "  My  poor  boy,  is  it 
well  with  you  ?  "  was  his  question.  And  the  reply 
was,  "  All  is  well  where  your  majesty  leads !  " 

I  would  apply  all  this  to  Christ.  All  is  well  where 
he  leads.  "  For  me  to  live  is  Christ,"  says  Paul. 
"  Whether  living  or  dying,  we  are  the  Lord's."  All 
other  obligations  are  only  parts  of  our  obligation 
to  him  who  has  redeemed  us.  We  speak  of  loyalty  to 
parents,  family,  friends,  government,  but  all  these  are 
only  phases  of  his  administration.  You  are  bound  to 
a  religious  denomination  only  as  it  is  his  representa- 
tive. Pastors,  teachers,  church.  Scripture,  derive  all 
their  authority  from  him.  Law,  conscience,  principle, 
truth,  these  are  but  echoes  of  his  voice.  And  to  all  of 
them  we  owe  allegiance.  I  urge  that  we  not  only 
recognize  that  allegiance,  but  that  we  put  into  it  the 
pride,  the  passion,  the  generous  enthusiasm  which  we 
call  loyalty. 

There  is  a  maxim  which  has  saved  many  a  man 
from  being  mean  and  wicked,  an  ingrate  and  a  cow- 
ard,— it  is  the  maxim  "  Noblesse  oblige/'  It  should 
never   minister   to   pride,    for   nobility,    rank,    wealth. 


LOYALTY  425 

dignity  of  any  kind,  lays  us  under  obligation.  How 
great,  then,  is  the  obligation  that  rests  upon  each 
one  of  us,  for  whom  not  only  Christ  has  shed  his 
blood,  but  with  whom  he  has  shared  his  life!  The 
whole  Christian  world  has  been  stirred  by  Charles 
Sheldon's  book,  "  In  His  Steps,"  not  so  much  because 
of  any  felt  duty  to  repeat  the  acts  of  Jesus'  life,  as 
because  of  the  impulse  it  has  kindled  to  walk  worthily 
of  him  who  has  called  us  to  his  kingdom  and  glory. 
There  are  certain  things  which  as  a  follower  of  Christ 
I  cannot  do;  there  are  others  which  loyalty  to  him 
requires. 

When  we  add  this  generous  element,  we  have  a  prin- 
ciple far  beyond  any  cold  calculation  of  mere  duty. 
Not,  how  much  must  I  do  for  my  Lord? — but  how 
much  may  I  do  to  show  my  love?  The  strong  men 
who  penetrated  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  to  bring  David 
a  cup  of  water  from  the  well  of  Bethlehem  were  not 
reproved  by  their  leader.  Even  though  he  would  not 
drink,  he  poured  out  the  water  as  a  thank-offering  to 
God  for  the  gift  of  such  loyal  hearts.  So  I  can 
fancy  Jesus  our  Lord  rendering  thanks  for  those  who 
show  the  adventurous  spirit,  and  who  risk  their  lives 
for  him  in  the  hard  places  of  the  field. 

Courage  and  devotion  are  contagious,  and,  because 
you  are  to  be  leaders  of  others,  I  desire  that  you 
should  be  conspicuous  examples  of  loyalty.  I  would 
have  you  show  that  nobleness  of  mind  that  is  superior 
to  all  considerations  of  personal  interest,  that  is  willing 
to  make  sacrifices  for  the  cause,  that  can  run  risks, 
if  need  be,  of  unpopularity,  of  physical  danger,  of 
financial  loss.     Never  be  afraid  to  stand  for  the  truth. 


426  MISCELLANIES 

when  you  know  that  you  are  right;  never  be  afraid  to 
avow  your  convictions,  even  though  they  run  counter 
to  the  tide  of  feehng  in  church  or  community.  God 
will  be  your  defense,  and  you  will  hear  him  saying  to 
you  as  he  said  to  Jeremiah :  "  They  shall  fight  against 
thee,  but  they  shall  not  prevail  against  thee,  for  I  am 
with  thee,  saith  the  Lord,  to  deliver  thee." 

We  have  finished  our  teaching  of  this  Class  of  1900, 
and  the  seminary  has  done  its  work  for  each  of  you. 
I  would  have  you  loyal  to  the  seminary  and  to  us  and 
to  our  teaching,  only  because,  and  in  so  far  as,  we  have 
been  loyal  to  Christ.  Wherein  we  have  erred,  I  would 
have  you  follow,  not  us,  but  the  truth.  God  has  much 
truth  yet  to  break  forth  from  his  holy  word, — may 
you  be  the  discoverers  and  publishers  of  it !  But  the 
substance  of  the  faith,  the  old  gospel  of  sin  and  sal- 
vation, of  the  deity  and  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ, 
this  will  not  change,  and  I  rejoice  to  believe  that  you 
will  be  faithful  to  it.  In  thi?  and  in  other  lands, 
show  your  loyalty  to  Christ,  as  during  the  past  three 
years  you  have  shown  your  loyalty  to  us  and  to  one 
another,  and  I  can  ask  no  more. 

You  have  had  your  drill, — now  for  the  campaign. 
You  go  out  with  flying  colors  and  beating  drums. 
How  many  will  answer  to  the  roll-call  fifty  years  from 
now,  when  perchance  the  seminary  will  celebrate  its 
hundredth  anniversary?  Who  will  be  the  first  to 
fall  in  the  battle?  Ah,  how  many  solemn  questions 
ofifer  themselves  and  have  no  answer!  We  can  only 
commend  you  to  God  and  to  the  word  of  his  grace, 
confident  that  he  will  make  you  loyal  and  brave  and 
victorious,   and   that   he   will   give  vou   rest   with   us, 


RIGHT    BEGINNINGS  427 

when  this  cruel  war  with  sin  is  over  and  the  soldiers 
come  marching  home. 


1901 

RIGHT  BEGINNINGS 

Brethren  of  the  Graduating  Class  :  At  the  end 
of  your  long  course  of  study  you  might  possibly 
expect  me  to  speak  of  last  things,  and  eschatology 
is  certainly  an  important  part  of  doctrine.  But  first 
things  are  more  important,  because  beginnings  make 
endings.  I  do  not  find  the  word  protology  in  the 
dictionary,  and  therefore  I  shall  adopt  another  title 
and  shall  speak  of  right  beginnings.  The  Class  of 
1901,  the  first  class  of  the  new  century,  may  well  con- 
sider the  advantage  to  themselves,  to  the  church,  and 
to  the  world,  of  beginning  aright. 

Our  Lord  felt  the  importance  of  a  right  beginning. 
His  baptism  was  a  solemn  self-consecration  to  the 
work  of  preaching  and  suffering  and  death  that  lay  be- 
fore him.  His  forty  days  of  temptation  in  the  wil- 
derness were  days  of  preparatory  meditation  and 
prayer,  so  that  he  returned  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit 
into  Galilee.  His  disciples  in  like  manner  were  bidden 
to  tarry  in  Jerusalem  until  they  were  endued  with 
power  from  on  high.  Paul,  when  he  was  summoned 
to  be  an  apostle,  conferred  not  with  flesh  and  blood, 
but  went  away  into  Arabia  to  seek  divine  illumination. 
And  every  Christian  must  burn  his  ships,  cut  off  re- 
treat, commit  himself  by  public  confession,  if  his  life 


428  MISCELLANIES 

is  to  count  for  anything  on  the  side  of  Christ.  The 
only  right  beginning  is  a  beginning  with  God.  When 
young  Josiah  "  began  to  seek  after  God,"  and  when 
those  who  looked  on  coukl  say  of  Paul,  "  Behold,  he 
prayeth,"  a  wise  man  could  have  predicted  the  refor- 
mation in  Israel  on  the  one  hand  and  the  ev^angeliza- 
tion  of  the  Gentiles  on  the  other. 

A  man's  first  days  in  the  ministry  set  the  standard 
for  all  that  are  to  follow.  There  is  a  youthful  decision 
and  energy  at  the  beginning.  It  is  now  or  never. 
If  the  young  preacher  does  not  believe  and  dare  at 
the  first,  it  is  ten  chances  to  one  that  he  never  will. 
Why  is  it  that  in  every  biography  we  take  such  inter- 
est in  the  first  letter,  the  first  speech,  the  first  enter- 
prise? It  is  because  the  child  is  father  of  the  man, 
and  the  fruit  is  wrapped  up  in  the  seed.  In  our  own 
lives  all  times  of  new  beginning  are  sacred  and  mo- 
mentous. Does  one  ever  forget  the  day  when  he  en- 
tered college,  or  went  into  business,  or  contracted 
marriage?  What  vistas  open  at  such  times!  What 
hours  those  are  for  new  thoughts,  for  new  resolves ! 
Even  the  birthday  and  the  New  Year  are  messengers 
of  God  to  us. 

When  the  Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth  Rock  they 
knelt  at  once  in  prayer.  They  gave  themselves  anew  to 
God  with  the  land  to  which  he  had  brought  their  feet. 
So  after  a  many  a  weary  year  of  preparatory  study 
you  have  come  to  the  beginning  of  a  new  life,  active 
service  is  before  you,  henceforth  a  man's  work  is  de- 
manded of  each  one  of  you.  How  shall  you  begin? 
Begin  with  God.  Do  your  first  works, — a  new  sur- 
render, a  new   faith.      If  there  have  been  omissions 


RIGHT    BEGINNINGS  429 

or  neglects  in  the  past,  confess  them  now;  if  there 
have  been  transgressions,  forsake  them.  It  is  never 
too  late  to  mend.  The  new  life  upon  which  you  enter 
is  a  blessed  opportunity  for  new  beginning  and  new 
laying  hold  of  the  strength  of  God. 

May  I  outline  for  you  the  first  day's  work  in  the 
church  of  which  you  become  pastor,  or  in  the  mission 
field  to  which  you  go?  Of  course  it  will  begin  with 
prayer,  before  you  rise,  as  well  as  on  your  knees  after 
you  have  risen.  Then  immediately  before  or  imme- 
diately after  your  morning  meal  should  come  the 
taking  of  spiritual  food,  the  reading  of  God's  word  for 
your  own  refreshment,  admonition,  and  instruction. 
For  a  man  who  has  had  seminary  education,  that 
rea(Hng  should  be  the  reading  of  his  Greek  Testament, 
and  the  reading  should  be  followed  by  serious  and 
minute  study  of  one  small  portion,  with  all  the  helps 
which  grammar  and  lexicon  and  commentary  can  give. 
Begin  your  work  with  earnest  pondering  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  let  this  become  the  habit  of  your  life,  with- 
out regard  to  the  use  which  may  be  made  of  what  you 
read  in  public  discourse.  Store  your  mind  with  the 
Bible,  and  your  profiting  will  appear  to  all. 

After  your  study  of  the  Scripture,  let  the  remainder 
of  this  first  morning  be  given  solidly  to  preparation 
for  your  pulpit.  Have  your  set  time  for  receiving 
calls,  so  that  the  morning  may  be  free  for  study. 
Wrestle  with  the  great  themes  of  sin  and  salvation. 
Make  your  own  sermons.  Aim  each  week  to  pro- 
duce one  sermon  that  is  fully  up  to  your  ability.  You 
will  find  it  hard  at  times  to  think,  and  harder  still  to 
write.     But  do  not  wait   for  inspiration.      "  Shall   I 


430  MISCELLANIES 

wait  for  the  Muse?"  said  a  young  writer  to  Samuel 
Johnson.  "  No,"  thundered  out  the  doctor,  "  sit 
down  and  write  doggedly!"  For  writing  doggedly 
is  the  best  way  to  summon  the  Muse.  "  While  I  was 
musing,"  said  David,  "the  fire  burned;  then  spake  I 
with  my  tongue."  Faithful  work  in  preparation  for 
the  pulpit  will  become  not  only  a  habit  but  a  delight, 
and  the  preacher's  permanent  success  depends  upon 
this  right  beginning. 

Let  the  first  afternoon  be  one  of  earnest  pastoral 
activity.  Seek  out  the  poorest,  the  most  afflicted,  of 
all  your  flock.  The  rich  have  friends  in  plenty,  and 
they  can  better  do  without  you.  Make  sure  that  you 
do  your  duty  to  the  humble,  for  they  may  have  you 
for  their  only  friend.  But  let  your  ministrations  be 
religious  and  not  merely  social.  Pastoral  visitation 
may  degenerate  into  gossip,  and  then  time  is  worse 
than  wasted.  It  may  be  high  converse  about  the 
things  of  the  kingdom,  and  then  it  is  even  better  than 
preaching;  indeed,  it  is  preaching  in  private — the  re- 
vival of  the  preaching  of  the  early  church.  Whoever 
may  meet  you,  let  him  know  in  that  first  conversation, 
by  some  word  or  tone  of  yours,  that  you  are  Christ's 
messenger,  and  that  you  wish  to  be  of  use  to  him  in 
the  greatest  concerns  of  all. 

The  first  sick  person  visited,  the  first  funeral  at- 
tended, the  first  marriage  ceremony  performed,  the 
first  acceptance  of  an  invitation  to  the  hospitality  of 
a  household,  these  you  will  remember  long  after;  let 
them  be  prepared  for  by  prayer  and  thought,  and  by 
earnest  endeavor  to  make  the  most  of  them  for  your 
Master.     As  the  first  tone  of  the  public  speaker  reacts 


RIGHT    BEGINNINGS  43I 

upon  himself  and  either  encourages  or  depresses  him, 
so  the  first  experiences  of  the  pastor  react  upon  his 
life  and  influence  his  after  work.  The  first  call  to  the 
pastorate  will  test  your  willingness  to  hear  and  obey 
the  voice  of  God,  regardless  of  personal  preference 
or  interest.  The  first  church  served  will  show  your 
energy,  your  tact,  your  devotion,  or  the  opposite  of 
these.  The  first  sermon  preached  to  your  flock,  with 
unspeakable  anxiety,  perchance,  and  yet  with  unspeak- 
able joy,  may  be  like  an  open  door  into  heaven.  The 
first  year  of  your  ministry,  if  by  God's  grace  it  be  only 
a  year  of  revival  and  of  iiigathering,  may  be  a  Pente- 
cost, a  feast  of  first-fruits,  that  shall  presage  a  life- 
long harvest. 

The  beginning  contains  in  itself  the  ending,  as  the 
seed  contains  in  itself  the  fruit.  In  the  desire  of  those 
few  Greeks  to  see  him,  Jesus  saw  the  judgment  of  the 
world  and  Satan  falling  from  heaven.  Let  us  give 
over  our  postponements  and  let  us  see  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  coming  here  and  now.  He  that  believeth 
on  the  Son  hath  eternal  life  and  does  not  need  to  wait 
for  it.  It  does  not  matter  how  small  the  beginning 
may  seem  to  be,  if  only  it  has  the  prospect  of  endless 
growth  before  it.  The  Mayflower  once  contained  in 
its  little  cabin  all  there  was  of  New  England  enter- 
prise and  freedom;  and  the  twelve  who  met  in  that 
upper  chamber  were,  notwithstanding,  the  church  of 
God  that  was  to  overspread  the  world.  For  the  seed 
of  the  kingdom  has  in  it  a  divine  life ;  though  it  is  the 
least  of  all  seeds  to  the  sight  of  man,  it  shall  become  a 
tree  under  whose  shade  shall  gather  all  the  nations; 
not  thirtyfold,  sixtyfold,  nor  even  a  hundredfold  shall 


432  MISCELLANIES 

be  its  rate  of  increase,  for  the  little  one  shall  become  a 
thousand. 

I  remember  the  opening  words  of  Mark  the  evan- 
gelist :  "  The  beginning  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God,"  and  that  word  "  immediately  " 
which  Mark  is  ever  repeating  and  with  which  he  hur- 
ries us  on  from  the  earliest  manifestation  of  the 
great  Wonder-worker  to  his  death  and  resurrection. 
The  end  would  never  have  come  so  gloriously  if  the 
beginning  had  not  been  right.  And  so  with  each  of 
Christ's  servants  in  the  ministry.  What  is  the  time 
for  your  beginning?  When  you  are  married?  When 
you  are  ordained?  Next  month?  To-morrow?  No, 
immediately,  to-night,  here  and  now.  I  bid  you  here 
and  now  reconsecrate  yourselves  to  God  and  to  the 
gospel  of  his  Son,  and  lift  your  hearts  in  prayer,  that 
as  you  go  out  from  the  undergraduate  into  the  gradu- 
ate world,  from  the  life  of  preparation  into  the  life 
of  action,  Christ  himself  may  go  with  you.  Then  he 
that  has  begun  a  good  work  in  you  will  surely  perfect 
it,  for  it  is  this  same  Christ  who  says :  "  I  am  the 
Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  first  and  the  last,  the  begin- 
ninsf  and  the  end." 


1902 

MORE  TO  FOLLOW 

Brethren  of  the  Graduating  Class:  The  trav- 
eler in  a  mountain  district  sometimes  follows  a  tortu- 
ous upward  path  whose  meaning  is  disclosed  to  him 
only  when  he  looks  down  upon  it  from  an  elevation. 


MORE    TO    FOLLOW  433 

You  have  reached  such  an  elevation  to-day.  You  see, 
as  never  before,  the  way  in  which  God  has  led  you. 
There  have  been  mcidents  in  your  past  lives  which  you 
did  not  understand  at  the  time.  Now  you  perceive 
that  they  were  divinely  ordered  preparations  for  the 
future.  There  was  more  in  your  first  self-surrender 
to  God,  more  in  your  first  acceptance  of  Christ,  than 
you  ever  dreamed.  It  will  take  an  eternity  to  discover 
the  full  meaning  of  your  conversion.  The  evolution 
of  your  life  was  preceded  by  a  divine  involution.  And 
therefore  you  can  trust  the  future.  You  can  believe 
that  he  who  has  begun  a  good  work  in  you  will  surely 
carry  it  on  to  perfection  and  that  there  will  be  ever 
more  to  follow. 

These  words  of  the  popular  hymn.  More  to  Fol- 
low, furnish  the  subject  of  my  last  words  to  the  Class 
of  1902.  There  are  three  thoughts  I  would  suggest  to 
you.  The  first  is  that  God  creates  things  in  germ. 
Beginnings  are  commonly  small.  It  is  so  in  nature: 
the  oak  grows  from  the  acorn  and  the  acorn  from  a 
single  cell;  the  higher  forms  come  from  the  lower; 
there  was  once  an  azoic  ocean,  and  before  that  a 
chaotic  nebula  which  only  the  one  word  "Let  there 
be  light  "  reduced  to  order  and  peopled  with  forms 
of  life  and  beauty.  It  is  so  with  man:  the  most  com- 
prehensive intellect  was  once  infantile;  the  human  race 
sprang  from  a  single  pair ;  and  the  first  man  doubtless 
came  from  the  brute,  though  God's  creative  and  or- 
ganizing power  wrought  through  the  brute.  It  is 
so  with  God's  truth:  all  the  differential  and  integral 
calculus  lies  wrapped  up  in  the  simplest  mathematical 
axiom;  all  the  doctrines  of  theology  are  latent  in  the 

2C 


434  MISCELLANIES 

one  declaration  that  God  is  holiness  and  love ;  the 
protevangelium  spoken  at  the  gates  of  Eden  was  the 
germ  of  Moses'  law  and  David's  song  and  Isaiah's 
prophecy;  the  Old  Testament  was  God's  preparation 
for  the  New. 

From  what  infinitesimal  beginnings  did  Christ  him- 
self advance  to  his  glory  and  his  throne!  He  who 
filled  the  universe  and  ruled  over  all  became  a  micro- 
scopic speck,  narrowed  himself  down  so  as  to  be  next 
to  nothing,  was  born  of  a  Virgin,  suffered,  died,  was 
buried,  in  order  that  from  that  buried  seed  might 
spring  a  redeemed  humanity.  Our  faith — how  small 
that  was  at  the  first,  how  wavering,  how  unintelligent 
— like  the  first  ray  of  light  that  heralds  the  coming  of 
the  morning,  yet  almost  indistinguishable  from  the 
preceding  darkness!  The  church  of  Christ, — it  once 
consisted  of  only  two  disciples  who  answered  the 
Saviour's  call,  "  Follow  me  I  " — it  was  a  grain  of 
mustard-seed  from  which  grew  the  tree  in  whose 
branches  all  the  birds  of  heaven  shall  lodge.  From 
little  Bethlehem,  obscure  Nazareth,  provincial  Jerusa- 
lem, despised  Palestine,  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom 
went  forth  to  conquer  the  world ;  and  from  this  little 
world,  one  of  the  smallest  planets  that  roll  through 
space,  it  seems  to  be  Christ's  plan  to  make  known  to 
principalities  and  powers  in  heavenly  places — aye,  to 
the  whole  universe — the  manifold  wisdom  of  God. 

God  begins  with  germs:  that  is  the  first  thought. 
The  second  thought  is  that  God  himself  is  in  the 
germs.  We  have  been  hearing  of  late  of  "  the  new- 
Infinite. "  The  modern  idea  of  the  immanence  of  God 
has  made  the  mere  infinite  of  space  and  time  inade- 


MORE    TO    FOLLOW  435 

qiiate.  God  is  not  infinite  extension,  so  much  as  infi- 
nite energy.  He  dwells  not  only  "  beyond  the  flaming 
ramparts  of  the  world,"  to  use  the  expression  of 
Lucretius,  but  he  dwells  in  every  flower  and  every 
diatom,  so  that  the  study  of  the  least  thing  in  the 
universe  may  open  to  us  the  whole  treasury  of  knowl- 
edge. The  most  insignificant  fragment  of  truth  is  of 
worth  because  it  is  a  revelation  of  God,  related  to  all 
other  truth,  fully  intelligible  only  in  the  light  of  the 
whole. 

Robert    Browning   has   discerned   this   presence   of 
God  in  all  life.     He  says: 

Great  things  are  made  of  little  things, 
And  little  things  go  lessening,  till  at  last 
Comes  God  behind  them. 

The  Christian  can  smile  when  the  skeptic  claims  that 
God  is  unrevealed.  God  unrevealed?  Why,  every- 
thing reveals  him.  The  heavens  declare  his  glory. 
The  thunder  is  his  voice.  "  Nature,"  says  Bishop 
Berkeley,  "  is  God's  ceaseless  conversation  with  his 
creatures."  The  world  is  alive  with  God.  Every  vibra- 
tion of  air  and  ether  is  laden  with  messages  from 
him.  Marconi's  wireless  telegraphy,  to  be  sure,  re- 
quires an  attuned  "receiver."  But  the  Christian  is 
one  who  by  a  divine  renewal  has  been  qualified  to  rec- 
ognize and  to  respond  to  some  of  the  moral  and  spir- 
itual impulses  which  God  is  transmitting  from  every 
atom,  from  every  star,  from  every  soul. 

God  is  in  nature.  God  is  in  the  Bible.  God  is 
also  in  us,  interpreting  to  us  his  own  communications. 
When  you  are  right,  said  the  French  philosopher,  you 


436  "  MISCELLANIES 

are  always  more  right  than  you  think  you  are.  In  God 
we  Hve,  move,  and  have  our  intellectual  and  moral 
being.  We  can  comprehend  ethical  truth  only  because 
God  breathes  into  us  something  of  his  own  divine  life. 
We  are  not  deists  even  as  respects  spiritual  things. 
Christ  in  us  is  our  only  hope  of  knowledge,  even  as 
he  is  our  only  hope  of  glory.  This  indeed  was  the 
wonder  of  our  regeneration,  that  it  brought  about  an 
indissoluble  union  between  the  divine  Christ  and  our 
weak,  ignorant,  and  sinful  souls.  God  imparted  him- 
self to  us  when  he  joined  us  to  Christ.  And  so  omnip- 
otence and  omniscience  are  at  our  service.  Our  little 
motors  are  connected  with  an  infinite  dynamo.  He 
that  belie veth  on  the  Son  hath  eternal  life.  Under- 
neath him  are  the  everlasting  arms.  God  is  in  the 
midst  of  his  people.  The  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  his  church.  All  things  are  ours,  because  we 
are  Christ's  and  Christ  is  God's. 

God  begins  with  germs.  God  is  in  the  germs.  Let 
us  supplement  these  two  truths  with  a  last  truth : 
God's  germs  have  an  inexhaustible  vitality.  That  was 
a  great  saying  of  Dante : 

God  could  not  on  the  universe  so  write 
The  impress  of  his  power,  but  that  his  word 
Must  still  be  left  in  distance  infinite. 

As  the  past,  small  or  great,  was  only  the  seed  and 
germ  of  the  present,  so  the  present  is  only  the  seed  and 
germ  of  the  future.  Out  of  the  few  grains  of  wheat 
wrapped  in  the  hand  of  the  Egyptian  mummy  thou- 
sands of  acres  are  now  waving  with  harvests.  Some 
single  word  of  God's  truth  which  you  speak  will  go 


MORE    TO    FOLLOW  437 

on  multiplying  itself  until  in  the  last  great  day  you 
stand  lost  in  adoring  wonder  at  the  harvest  God  has 
brought  out  of  it.  Peter's  confession,  "  Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  son  of  the  living  God,"  was  the  germ  of 
Pentecost  with  its  conversion  of  the  three  thousand, 
and  yet  Pentecost  itself  was  but  the  feast  of  first- 
fruits;  there  shall  yet  be  ingatherings  in  which  a  na- 
tion shall  be  born  in  a  day.  God  has  not  spoken  his 
last.  More  truth  is  yet  to  break  forth  from  his  holy 
word.  Never  will  come  a  time  in  the  endless  future 
when  Christ  cannot  turn  to  the  sacramental  host  that 
follows  him  and  say,  "  Greater  things  than  these  shall 
ye  see." 

God's  will  is  absolutely  changeless.  His  life  op- 
crates  unspent.  In  joining  ourselves  to  Christ  we  tap 
a  reservoir  of  infinite  energy.  Every  declaration  of 
truth  is  a  torch  capable  of  kindling  a  multitude  of 
others.  In  every  act  of  sacrifice  there  is  power  to 
renovate  the  world,  not  because  the  act  in  itself  is 
great,  but  because  he  is  great  in  whose  strength  it  is 
performed.  Let  us  value  our  own  Christian  experi- 
ence,— it  is  God's  pledge  of  greater  things  to  come. 
With  him  is  the  residue  of  the  Spirit.  The  single 
spark  he  has  kindled  may  become  a  devouring  flame ; 
the  few  drops  from  heaven  may  turn  to  a  downpour, 
so  that  there  shall  not  be  room  to  receive  it ;  the  soft 
breath  of  summer  that  moves  in  the  tops  of  the  mul- 
berry trees  may  change  to  a  mighty  rushing  wind  that 
sweeps  thousands  upon  thousands  into  the  kingdom. 

So  mercy  shall  be  built  up  forever.  Each  new  gain 
shall  be  the  foundation  for  an  ever-rising  structure  of 
new   achievement   to   God's   honor   and   praise.      The 


438  MISCELLANIES 

universe  itself  is  in  its  infancy.  This  world  is  but  the 
breeding-ground  for  the  infinite  spaces.  Since  even 
angels  bend  over  the  battlements  of  heaven  and  peer 
into  the  transactions  of  our  planet,  we  may  believe  that 
there  are  other  worlds  to  be  enlightened,  and  that 
preaching  does  not  belong  to  this  world  alone.  The 
call  to  the  ministry  may  be  a  call  to  eternal  service. 
The  tongue  that  stammers  here  may  utter  God's  mes- 
sage gloriously  in  another  sphere.  The  pastorate  that 
is  cut  short  by  death  may  be  continued  over  yonder  in 
more  favoring  environment,  and  the  life  that  seems  a 
failure  here  may  be  crowned  with  glory  there. 

You  will  not  take  this  thought,  that  there  is  more 
to  follow,  as  an  encouragement  to  rest  on  your  oars, 
and  to  trust  in  the  past,  while  you  float  idly  on  the  cur- 
rent.    Encouragement  belongs  only  to  the  worker. 

Men,  my  brothers,  men,  the  workers,  ever  reaping  something  new. 
That  which  they  have  done,  the  earnest  of  the  things  that  they 
shall  do. 

I  urge  the  future  as  a  stimulus  for  the  present. 
O/A^r-worldliness  is  necessary  in  order  to  make  the 
most  of  this  world.  Eternity  is  the  Archimedean  lever 
with  which  to  move  the  things  of  time.  Hitch  your 
wagon  therefore  to  a  star.  Cherish  an  abounding  hope. 
Despise  not  the  day  of  small  things.  Rejoice  in  every 
opportunity  and  in  every  little  gain.  Do  not  limit  the 
Holy  One  of  Israel.  Have  faith  in  God.  He  does 
not  give  his  best  at  the  beginning,  but  keeps  his  best 
wine  to  the  last. 

The  Class  of  1902  is  dear  to  us,  and  we  would  ask 
for  you  the  best  of  blessings.     What  better  thing  can 


NO    OTHER    FOUNDATION  439 

we  ask  than  this,  that  the  God  of  hope  will  so  fill  you 
with  his  Spirit  that  all  earthly  labors,  trials,  sufferings, 
and  afflictions  shall  seem  light  in  comparison  with  the 
glory  that  is  to  be  revealed !  For  the  joy  that  was  set 
before  him  Christ  endured  the  cross,  despising  the 
shame.  So  may  you  put  your  very  life  into  your  work, 
knowing  that  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither 
have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things  which 
God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  him.  To  your 
own  view  your  talents  may  be  small,  your  field  con- 
tracted, your  converts  few.  Do  not  judge  the  harvest 
by  the  smallness  of  the  seed — God  begins  with  mere 
germs.  But  God  himself  is  in  these  germs.  God's 
germs  have  inexhaustible  vitality.  It  doth  not  yet  ap- 
pear what  we  ourselves  shall  be.  It  doth  not  yet  ap- 
pear what  tlie  church  of  Christ  shall  be.  But  we  know 
that,  because  the  infinite  God  is  in  these  small  begin- 
nings, through  eternal  ages  there  will  be  more  to 
follow. 


1903 

NO  OTHER  FOUNDATION 

Brethren  of  the  Graduating  Class:  I  have 
been  meditating  what  thing  I  might  say  to  you  at 
this  hour  of  parting,  when  the  associations  of  three 
happy  years  are  broken  and  you  scatter  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth.  I  would  like  to  remind  you  of  what 
has  drawn  you  together  in  the  past  and  of  what  will 
hold  you  together  in  spirit  in  the  days  to  come.  And 
I    come   back   again,    and    for   the   last   time,    to   the 


440  MISCELLANIES 

central  thought  of  my  teaching  and  the  one  thought 
which  will  guarantee  your  safety  and  success  in  the 
ministry.  You  go  out  to  lay  foundations  of  Chris- 
tian character  and  life.  I  would  remind  you  once 
more  that  '*  other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than 
that  is  laid,  even  Jesus  Christ."  In  these  last  moments 
then,  let  us  fix  our  gaze  upon  him : 

We  would  see  Jesus,  the  great  Rock  Foundation 
Whereon  our  feet  were  set  by  sovereign  grace; 

Not  life,  nor  death,  with  all  their  agitation, 
Can  thence  remove  us,  if  we  see  his  face. 

"  No  OTHER  FOUNDATION " — that  is  my  theme. 
There  can  be  no  other  foundation,  since  the  universe 
itself  is  built  on  Christ.  Let  us  never  forget  that 
Christ,  in  the  New  Testament  revelation,  is  the  eter- 
nal Word,  the  outgoing  of  the  Godhead,  Deity  in 
manifestation.  All  things  were  made  through  him 
and  for  him,  and  he  is  the  organizing  and  unifying 
principle  of  the  whole  creation.  He  fills  and  upholds 
the  universe.  Gravitation  and  evolution  are  only  the 
methods  of  Christ.  All  physical  science  is  simply  the 
disclosure  of  his  omnipresent,  omniscient,  and  om- 
nipotent working.  Astronomy  shows  us  the  hand  of 
Christ  guiding  the  movements  of  the  stars.  Chem- 
istry shows  us  the  hand  of  Christ  binding  together 
atoms  invisible  to  human  eye. 

Earth  has  nothing  sweet  or  fair, 
Lovely  forms  or  beauties  rare, 
But  before  my  eyes  they  bring 
Christ,  of  beauty  source  and  spring. 

Not  only  the  universe  in  general,  but  humanity 
in  particular,   is  created  and  upheld  by  Christ.     He 


NO    OTHER    FOUNDATION  44 1 

is  therefore  the  foundation  of  all  psychology,  sociol- 
ogy, ethics,  and  history.  He  is  himself  the  essential 
truth  to  be  studied,  and  we  are  successful  in  these 
various  pursuits  only  as  we  penetrate  beneath  the  out- 
ward form  to  the  inner  substance,  and  see  the  per- 
sonal Christ  in  whom  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wis- 
dom and  knowledge.  He  is  the  living  vine  of  which 
all  men  are  branches,  either  natural  branches  which 
refuse  to  receive  his  life  and  so  wither,  are  cut  off 
and  burned,  or  spiritual  branches  which  cling  to  the 
vine  and  are  made  fruitful  forever.  He  is  the  great- 
est philosopher  who  most  clearly  traces  in  the  human 
mind  and  in  human  history  the  image  of  God  of  which 
Christ  is  the  complete  and  perfect  expression. 

More  especially  all  religious  knowledge  has  him 
for  its  foundation.  He  is  the  Light  that  lighteth 
every  man.  Rays  of  his  light  have  penetrated  even 
the  darkness  of  heathenism.  It  is  he  who  has  written 
the  law  of  God  upon  the  hearts  of  men  everywhere, 
so  that  they  are  without  excuse  for  their  sins.  He 
has  not  left  himself  without  a  witness.  Conscience 
and  tradition,  aspiration  toward  the  good  and  fear  of 
retribution  for  the  evil,  are  Christ's  advance  agents 
among  men.  There  was  also  a  special  work  of  his 
in  the  prophets.  It  was  the  Spirit  of  Christ  in  them 
that  spoke  beforehand  of  the  things  which  in  the  ful- 
ness of  time  he  was  to  suffer.  And,  finally,  the 
eternal  Word  is  revealed  in  the  written  word.  The 
Bible  is  the  record  of  his  historic  revelation.  He  is 
the  explanation  of  its  genesis,  the  ground  of  its 
authority,  the  interpreter  of  its  meaning.  Inspira- 
tion can  be  understood  onlv  in  the  lis^ht  of  him  whose 


44-  MISCELLANIES 

revelation  of  the  Father  was  a  gradual  one — first 
twilight,  then  dawn,  at  last  broad  and  perfect  day. 

He  is  the  church's  one  foundation.  This  he 
could  not  be  if  his  life  did  not  pervade  all  humanity. 
Because  he  is  the  life  of  all,  he  could  bear  the  sin 
of  all,  and  could  work  out  both  an  individual  and  a 
collective  salvation.  In  all  the  affliction  of  men  he 
has  been  afflicted ;  he  has  suffered  in  all  temptation ; 
he  is  the  Lamb  slain  from  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world.  That  suffering  holiness  of  God  is  con- 
centrated and  demonstrated  in  Christ's  historic  sac- 
rifice upon  the  cross,  and  so  presented  to  our  gaze 
it  melts  and  subdues  us.  But  the  cross  was  not  itself 
the  atonement, — it  was  rather  the  revelation  of  the 
atonement,  an  atonement  in  which  we  in  our  measure 
share,  when  we  fill  up  that  which  is  behind  of  the 
sufferings  of  Christ  for  his  body's  sake,  which  is 
the  church.  The  church  and  the  kingdom  are  only 
expansions  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  ministry  has  no  foundation  but  Christ.  We 
speak  sometimes  of  the  founders  of  churches,  and 
Paul  says  that,  as  a  wise  master-builder,  he  has  laid 
a  foundation.  But  he  at  once  disclaims  being  him- 
self the  foundation.  "  Other  foundation,"  he  says, 
"can  no  man  lay,  but  that  is  laid,  even  Jesus  Christ." 
We  lay  that  foundation  when  we  preach  Christ  as  the 
Truth.  Let  others  do  superficial  work,  if  they  will. 
But  let  us  know  nothing  but  Jesus  Christ  and  him 
crucified.  We  lay  that  foundation  when  we  preach 
Christ  as  the  Life.  An  almighty  power  accompanies 
our  message,  and  we  can  do  all  things  through  Christ 
who  strengthens  us. 


NO    OTHER    FOUNDATION  443 

Christianity  is  not  a  circle,  but  an  ellipse,  and  there 
are  two  centers, — Christ  for  us,  and  Christ  in  us. 
But  it  is  the  same  Christ  in  both  the  foci.  The  cor- 
ner-stone of  the  Christian  building  presents  two  sides 
to  the  observer,  but  it  is  but  one  stone.  We  preach 
Christ  for  us,  when  we  preach  a  complete  atonement 
and  a  finished  work  upon  the  cross.  We  preach 
Christ  in  us,  when  we  preach  a  living  Redeemer, 
present  with  his  people  to  the  end  of  the  world. 
There  are  those  w^ho  deny  the  Christ  for  ns,  and  so 
have  no  satisfaction  to  offer  either  to  the  violated  holi- 
ness of  God  or  to  the  awakened  conscience  of  man; 
and  there  are  also  those  who  deny  the  Christ  in  ns, 
the  only  guarantee  of  life  and  power.  I  would 
charge  you  to  hold  fast  both  of  these ;  for  without 
either  one  of  them  you  lack  the  true  foundation  for 
the  work  of  the  ministry. 

But  how  solid  the  foundation  is  for  those  who 
build  upon  Christ !  The  rock-ribbed  hills  shall  be 
dissolved,  but  he  shall  abide,  for  the  hills  rest  upon 
him.  Human  philosophies  shall  be  outgrown,  but  he 
who  is  the  inner  truth  at  the  basis  of  all  philosophy 
is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever.  The 
preacher  who  has  Christ  for  his  foundation  can  ring 
out  his  message  with  accents  of  absolute  conviction, 
for  he  knows  that,  though  heaven  and  earth  pass 
away,  Christ's  words  shall  not  pass  away.  The  work 
of  the  ministry  permits  unlimited  freedom  of  method. 
Jonathan  Edwards  and  Joseph  Parker  looked  at 
Christ  from  different  angles  of  vision,  but  each  had 
his  rights.  Charles  H.  Spurgeon  and  Charles  G. 
Finney  could  never  have  worked  in  the  same  harness. 


444  MISCELLANIES 

but  it  would  be  hard  to  say  which  of  the  two  was  the 
more  useful.  It  takes  all  the  saints  of  all  the  ages 
to  apprehend  the  many-sided  Christ.  It  takes  all 
varieties  of  field  at  home  and  abroad  to  reveal  the 
infinite  sufficiency  of  Christ's  gospel.  Christianity 
has  many  kinds  of  product;  let  each  of  us  run  his 
own  mill.  But  one  thing  let  us  do,  let  us  build  upon 
the  one  foundation,  let  us  make  Christ  the  beginning 
and  middle  and  end  of  our  preaching;  let  us  merge 
ourselves  and  our  lives  in  him;  for  to  stand  with  Christ 
is  to  stand  with  God,  and  to  stand  forever. 

We  who  have  taught  you  have  a  peculiar  affec- 
tion for  this  class,  and  a  peculiar  hope  for  your  future. 
Few  classes  represent  so  great  variety  of  endowment. 
You  go  to  very  different  sorts  of  work.  You  will 
be  separated  by  the  diameter  of  continents  and  by 
the  breadth  of  oceans.  But  you  have  learned  your 
oneness  in  Christ,  and  on  him  you  have  built  your 
hope.  That  rock  will  never  fail  you.  It  stretches 
beneath  the  oceans,  and,  compared  with  its  greatness, 
the  oceans  are  but  superficial.  Even  the  granite  foun- 
dations of  the  mountains  are  but  a  faint  analogue 
to  the  supporting  strength  of  Christ,  for  he  holds  the 
globe  itself  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  and  all  author- 
ity in  heaven  and  in  earth  is  his.  To  him  who  is  the 
one  and  only  foundation  upon  which  the  ministry,  and 
the  church,  and  the  truth,  and  humanity,  and  the  uni- 
verse, are  built,  I  commend  you,  praying  that  you 
may  never  be  moved  from  that  sure  basis  of  all  doc- 
trine and  all  conduct,  and  that  you  may  be  privileged 
to  be  partners  with  God  in  laying  this  sure  founda- 
tion of  peace  and  virtue  in  the  hearts  of  a  multitude 


BREADTH    IN    THE    MINISTER  445 

of  Others.  Then  in  labor  and  in  trial,  in  success  and 
in  failure,  in  joy  and  in  sorrow,  in  life  and  in  death, 
you  can  say  serenely : 

On  Christ,  the  solid  Rock,  I  stand; 
All  other  ground  is  sinking  sand. 


1904 

BREADTH  IN  THE  MINISTER 

Brethren  of  the  Graduating  Class:  Your  three 
years'  course  in  the  seminary  has  been  saddened  by 
the  deaths  of  two  noble  instructors — men  whose 
strong-  personality  and  manly  ways  have  made  a  last- 
ing impression  upon  you.  Doctor  True  and  Doctor 
Pattison  were  in  many  respects  unlike.  Yet  they  had 
one  characteristic  in  common, — they  were  men  of 
public 'spirit.  The  range  of  their  interests  was  wide. 
All  that  was  going  on  in  the  world  concerned  them 
and  became  tributary  to  their  own  special  work. 
This  feature  of  their  character  and  help  to  their  use- 
fulness suggests  to  me  the  theme  for  my  farewell 
address  to  you  this  evening.  I  wish  to  speak  to  you 
of  BREADTH  in  THE  MINISTER.  Think  first  of  the 
demand  for  breadth,  and  secondly  of  the  provision 
for  breadth. 

First,  consider  the  demand  for  breadth.  The  world 
is  larger  now  than  it  was  in  the  days  of  our  fathers, 
and  we  know  more  about  the  world  than  they  did. 
Telegraph  and  telephone  have  annihilated  distance, 
and  the  daily  press  tells  us  to-day  what  happened  yes- 


44^  MISCELLANIES 

terday  in  Tokyo  and  in  St.  Petersburg.  We  not  only 
know  more,  but  we  feel  more.  There  is  a  new  sense 
of  community  among  the  nations.  We  no  longer  say, 
"Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  Armenians  and  Chi- 
nese claim  our  sympathy.  Oppressed  wage-earners 
at  home  appeal  to  us  and  we  cannot  shut  them  out 
from  our  regard.  Iniquity  in  high  places  and  in  low 
places  is  unveiled  and  reprehended  more  and  more. 
There  is  a  growing  public  conscience  side  by  side 
with  a  growing  public  intelligence.  We  are  not  con- 
tent to  let  evil  go  unchallenged.  There  must  be  some 
remedy  for  human  ills,  for  the  greatest  as  well  as  for 
the  least. 

Now  the  minister  of  Christ  is  sent  to  apply  his 
gospel  to  the  times  in  which  he  lives.  To  do  this 
he  must  discern  the  signs  of  the  times.  He  must  not 
preach  a  mediaeval  theology,  but  a  theology  intelli- 
gible in  our  own  day.  It  should  be  the  faith  once 
for  all  delivered  to  the  saints,  but  it  should  also  be 
that  faith  in  its  inmost  essence,  vitally  apprehended, 
not  wrapped  up  in  the  cerements  of  antiquated  for- 
mulae, but  dressed  in  modern  guise  and  adapted  to 
modern  needs.  Our  congregations  are  so  well  trained, 
they  have  read  so  much  of  literature  and  history,  their 
interests  are  so  wide  and  varied,  that  no  preacher  can 
hold  their  attention  or  permanently  lead  them  unless 
he  is  a  broadly  read  and  a  deeply  thoughtful  man. 
Doctor  Robinson  used  to  say  that  it  has  been  ordained 
of  Almighty  God  that  the  man  who  dips  into  every- 
thing never  gets  to  the  bottom  of  anything.  It  is 
certain  that  the  minister  must  know  everything  about 
something — that    is,    about    the    gospel    he    is    set    to 


BREADTH    IN    THE    MINISTER  447 

preach.  But  it  is  equally  true  that  to  command  men's 
interest  in  that  gospel  he  must  also  know  something 
about  everything. 

The  office  of  the  ministry  is  a  prophetic  office.  The 
minister  has  no  new  revelation  from  heaven,  but  he 
is  taught  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  make  new  applications 
of  the  old  revelation.  What  you  see  in  the  micro- 
scope depends  largely  upon  the  lights  you  throw  upon 
the  object, — light  from  beneath  or  from  the  right 
discloses  features  which  light  from  above  or  from  the 
left  did  not  reveal.  So  the  business  of  the  preacher 
is  to  throw  upon  Scripture  the  various  lights  of  ety- 
mology, grammar,  archaeology,  geography,  literature, 
history,  science,  logic,  and  philosophy,  and  so  to  bring 
out  of  his  treasure  things  new  as  well  as  old.  More- 
over, he  is  to  apply  Scripture  principles  to  all  the 
varying  conditions  of  life.  Like  his  Master,  he  must 
remember  that  men  have  bodies  as  well  as  souls. 
There  are  a  multitude  who  work  with  their  hands, 
and  they  are  tired.  The  temptations  of  the  young 
are  not  the  temptations  of  the  old.  Yet  the  pastor 
must  feed  each  member  of  his  flock,  and  give  to  each 
his  portion  of  meat  in  due  season.  Surely  all  this 
requires  in  him  a  breadth  of  nature,  a  breadth  of  cul- 
ture, a  breadth  of  sympathy. 

The  Scripture  enjoins  this  breadth.  "  Give  ye  them 
to  eat,"  Jesus  said  to  the  disciples,  when  the  five  thou- 
sand were  going  hungry.  This  suggests  my  second 
thought:  the  provision  for  breadth.  It  is  in  Christ 
himself.  He  could  bid  the  apostles  give  to  the  five 
thousand,  because  he  first  gave  to  them  himself  and 
his  power.     He  can  enjoin  upon  us  breadth  of  mind 


448  MISCELLANIES 

and  heart,  because  all  fulness  dwells  in  him  and  he 
himself  is  ours.  He  is  all  in  all.  He  includes  all 
nature,  all  truth,  all  beauty,  all  art.  He  is  the  im- 
pelling force  in  the  education  and  civilization  of  the 
race.  History  is  the  record  of  his  administration. 
Industrial  progress  and  political  reform  are  forward 
steps  in  his  moralizing  of  mankind.  And  these  ac- 
tivities of  Christ  throw  light  upon  his  gospel  and 
give  new  dignity  to  his  kingdom.  He  aims  at  a  re- 
deemed society,  as  well  as  a  redeemed  church.  He 
would  not  merely  rescue  here  and  there  an  individual 
from  the  slough  of  sin,  but  he  would  drain  the  slough 
so  that  others  may  not  fall  into  it.  Christ  is  equal 
to  all  these  needs,  and  he  will  make  us  equal  to  them. 
He  will  make  us  broad  as  the  world,  broad  as  the 
heart  of  humanity,  broad  as  the  future  that  stretches 
away  before  his  church. 

"  Whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things 
are  honorable,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever 
things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatso- 
ever things  are  of  good  report;  if  there  be  any  virtue, 
and  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on  these  things." 
That  is  a  large  program  for  the  Christian  minister, 
but  not  too  large,  since  he  has  Christ's  two  books 
of  nature  and  Scripture  to  instruct  him,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  truth  to  take  of  the  things  of  Christ  in  both 
and  interpret  them  to  him.  I  would  not  have  you  think 
that  I  advise  you  to  be  politicians  or  journalists  or 
school  commissioners,  side  by  side  with  your  work  in 
the  pulpit  and  in  the  pastorate.  But  I  would  have  you 
in  touch  with  all  progress  and  reform,  with  all  litera- 
ture and  science,  with  all  classes  and  conditions  of  men, 


BREADTH    IN    THE    MINISTER  449 

and  all  as  a  means  of  magnifying  Christ  and  of  show- 
ing the  universal  and  endless  reach  of  his  saving  truth. 

There  is  a  broad  church  spirit,  so  called,  which  the 
Christian  minister  should  antagonize  and  oppose.  It 
is  the  spirit  that  thinks  so  much  of  other  religions 
that  it  despises  the  evangelical  faith.  It  thinks  so 
highly  of  man  in  his  natural  state  that  it  sees  no  need 
of  Christ  and  his  Cross.  It  has  no  doctrine  of  sin, 
and  so  has  no  doctrine  of  salvation.  The  breadth  to 
which  I  exhort  you  is  a  different  breadth  from  this. 
Not  the  divinity  of  man,  but  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
should  be  your  theme.  If  you  believe  in  that  Christ 
to  whom  all  power  in  heaven  and  earth  is  given,  who 
is  the  life  of  nature  and  the  ruler  of  the  nations,  in 
whom  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily, 
and  whose  church  is  the  fulness  of  him  that  filleth  all 
in  all,  you  will  be  broad  enough.  His  Spirit  will 
keep  you  from  the  breadth  that  is  only  a  name  for 
false  liberalism,  and  will  preserve  you  from  scatter- 
ing your  powers,  even  while  you  ceaselessly  endeavor 
to  set  forth  to  men  the  infinite  variety  of  his  truth 
and  grace. 

There  is  no  use  of  inveighing  against  the  Amor- 
ites,  the  Hittites,  the  Perizzites,  and  the  Jebusites. 
They  have  no  friends,  and  denunciations  of  their  sins 
will  be  a  waste  of  strength.  But  to  meet  the  evils  of 
the  present  time  and  to  apply  the  gospel  to  them,  this 
is  our  labor  and  call.  You  are  to  rise  above  Phari- 
saic restrictions  and  Sadducean  rationalism,  and  to 
represent  the  large-mindedness  and  sympathy  and  joy 
of  Jesus.  Let  your  preaching  be  evangelistic ;  aim 
first  to  bring  men  to  Christ.     But  let  your  preaching 


450  MISCELLANIES 

be  also  educational ;  aim  to  make  men  perfect  in 
Christ.  All  truth  is  your  province.  You  have  un- 
limited opportunities  of  self-development.  Be  broad 
yourselves,  in  order  that  you  may  broaden  others. 
There  is  nothing  that  honors  Christ  so  much  as  a 
noble  manhood  given  to  his  service.  The  demand  for 
breadth  in  the  ministry  is  imperative.  The  provision 
for  breadth  is  all  that  we  could  ask.  Through  the 
knovi^ledge  of  the  Son  of  God  let  us  strive  to  attain 
ourselves,  and  let  us  incite  others  to  attain,  unto  a 
full-grown  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of 
the  fulness  of  Christ. 

I  hardly  need  say  to  you  that  this  will  be  impos- 
sible unless  you  accustom  yourselves  to  look  upon  the 
things  of  sense  and  time  sub  specie  eterniiatis;  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  future  life  and  of  the  judg- 
ment-day. Things  that  are  near  assume  dispropor- 
tionate importance.  We  need  to  look  down  upon 
them  from  a  height  in  order  to  estimate  them  rightly. 
Other-worldliness  is  necessary  in  order  to  make  life 
in  this  world  normal.  Eternity  furnishes  the  ttou  (tt(o 
from  which  to  move  the  things  of  time.  Thank  God, 
this  same  Christ,  of  whom  I  have  so  often  spoken, 
gives  us  the  proper  point  of  view,  for  he  is  the  same 
yesterday  and  to-day  and  forever,  and  his  wisdom 
can  make  us  broad. 

My  theme  seems  peculiarly  appropriate  to  this  class 
and  to  this  time.  You  have  come  from  widely  sep- 
arated places.  You  are  soon  to  be  scattered  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth.  The  missionary  zeal  which  you 
have  shown  in  your  past  work  and  in  your  choice  of 
fields  of  labor  is  evidence  that  this  idea  of  breadth  has 


MADE    UNTO    US    WISDOM  451 

taken  root  in  your  minds.  Remember  now  that  it  is 
breadth  only  in  Christ, — not  the  breadth  of  godless 
ease  and  self-seeking,  but  the  breadth  of  holy  living 
and  of  loving  service.  Though  you  may  be  sundered 
by  the  whole  diameter  of  the  globe,  you  will  still  in 
spirit  be  drawing  closer  to  one  another,  as  you  get 
nearer  to  Christ,  the  all-encompassing  and  ever-living 
Lord.  You  go  out  with  our  prayers  and  our  bless- 
ings. We  expect  great  things  of  you,  because  we 
believe  that  you  will  preach  Him  in  whom  are  hid 
all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  For  in 
him  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily, 
and  in  him  you  will  be  made  full. 


1905 
MADE  UNTO  US  WISDOM 

Brethren  of  the  Graduating  Class:  One  of  the 
best  signs  of  mental  progress  is  that  we  come  to  recog- 
nize our  own  ignorance.  It  would  not  be  wonderful 
if  this  day  of  your  graduation  from  the  theological 
seminary  should  be  the  day  of  all  days  when  you  feel 
most  keenly  the  insufficiency  of  your  equipment  for  the 
ministry.  You  are  to  venture  upon  an  unknown  sea, 
with  but  little  experience  of  navigation.  Youth  and 
hope  are  good  allies,  but  you  need  something  more. 
I  would  fain  say  a  parting  word  of  cheer,  and  that, 
something  more  substantial  than  the  customary  bon 
voyage.  Fortunately,  my  word  is  also  a  word  of 
God — a  word  with  which  the  Apostle  Paul  used  to 


452  MISCELLANIES 

comfort  his  soul.  It  is  this:  Christ  is  made  unto  lis 
wisdom. 

The  old  theologians  talked  of  prevenient  grace,  and 
quoted  the  psalm :  "  The  God  of  my  mercy  shall  pre- 
vent, or  go  before,  me."  But  they  never  knew  how 
greatly  Christ's  wisdom  antedates  ours.  "  The  Light 
that  lighteth  every  man  "  is  the  creative  source  of 
all  our  mental  life,  and  our  reasoning  processes  are 
valid  only  as  a  higher  Reason  operates  in  them. 
You  look  back  upon  your  past  history  and  you  see 
that  little  events  had  an  influence  in  shaping  your 
career  which  you  never  suspected  at  the  time  when 
they  occurred.  You  were  debating  the  question 
whether  you  would  go  to  college, — the  chance  word 
of  a  friend  determined  your  decision.  Like  the  king 
of  Babylon,  you  stood  at  the  parting  of  the  ways  be- 
tween good  and  evil, — a  sermon  from  some  revival 
preacher  led  you  to  give  your  heart  to  God.  Should 
you  serve  God  in  some  secular  calling,  or  should  you 
devote  yourself  to  the  ministry  of  the  gospel?  You 
thought  you  weighed  the  problem  on  its  own  merits 
and  that  you  worked  out  your  own  salvation.  Now 
you  see  that  it  was  God  who  worked  in  you  to  will 
and  to  work  of  his  good  pleasure.  And  the  God  who 
thus  revealed  himself  in  your  experience  was  Christ, 
for  Christ  is  God's  only  Revealer.  Christ  was  made 
to  you  Wisdom. 

The  past  throws  light  upon  the  present.  For  some 
of  you  there  are  important  questions  yet  unsettled. 
Where  shall  you  go?  What  sort  of  ministerial  work 
are  you  best  fitted  for?  Do  Christian  lands  or 
heathen   lands    utter    the    loudest    call?     Should    you 


MADE    UNTO    US    WISDOM  453 

seek  a  place  to  labor,  or  should  you  wait  for  the  place 
to  offer  itself?  No  human  being  can  answer  these 
questions  for  you.  But  Christ  can  answer  them. 
He  can  give  you  a  vision  like  that  of  the  man  of 
Macedonia  which  was  granted  to  Paul.  He  can  im- 
part the  discerning  Spirit  which  shall  guide  you  to  the 
place  of  his  selection, — the  place  precisely  fitted  for 
you,  and  the  place  for  which  you  have  been  fitted  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world. 

But  suppose  you  have  found  your  place  and  your 
work.  You  tell  me  that  there  are  important  points 
of  doctrine  with  regard  to  which  your  minds  are  not 
settled.  Remember  that  in  Christ  are  hid  all  the 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,  and  that  Christ 
is  yours.  Christ  is  the  truth,  and  you  have  the  prom- 
ise that  the  Holy  Spirit  will  take  of  the  things  of 
Christ  and  will  show  them  to  you.  He  does  not 
promise  that  you  shall  be  omniscient,  nor  even  that 
encyclopaedic  knowledge  shall  be  yours  at  the  moment 
of  your  prayer.  But  the  promise  is  that  he  who  lacks 
wisdom  and  asks  of  God  shall  have  large  and  liberal 
supply,  help  in  every  time  of  need,  new  grace  to-day 
in  place  of  the  grace  of  yesterday,  and  so  a  larger 
and  larger  understanding  of  God  and  of  his  plan  of 
salvation.  When  the  vastness  of  the  universe  and 
the  dreadfulness  of  human  misery  and  guilt  oppress 
you,  cast  your  care  upon  Christ,  for  he  cares  for  you. 
Do  his  will  and  you  shall  know  of  the  doctrine.  Every 
day  Christ  will  give  you  his  message,  first  for  your 
own  soul  and  then  for  the  souls  of  others,  and 
Isaiah's  words  shall  be  yours :  "  The  Lord  Jehovah 
hath  given  me  the  tongue  of  them  that  arc  taught, 


454  MISCELLANIES 

that  I  may  know  how  to  sustain  with  words  him  that 
is  weary :  he  wakeneth  morning  by  morning,  he  waken- 
eth  mine  ear  to  hear  as  they  that  are  taught." 

Christ  will  be  made  to  you  Wisdom  in  your  pas- 
toral work.  The  young  minister  has  to  confront 
enormous  evils  in  the  community.  If  the  church  were 
perfectly  pure,  he  might  feel  himself  equal  to  the  fight. 
But  when  the  garrison  has  traitors  among  its  num- 
ber, the  defense  of  the  fortress  becomes  difficult;  aye, 
when  the  commandant  himself  is  weak,  who  shall  in- 
spirit the  soldiers?  A  pastor  seldom  feels  his  help- 
lessness more  than  wdien  he  is  urging  a  convicted  sin- 
ner to  break  with  the  world  and  surrender  himself  to 
Christ ;  he  never  feels  his  helplessness  more  than  when 
he  is  urging  professed  Christians  to  renounce  their 
worldly  ambitions  and  to  give  their  property,  their 
voices,  and  their  influence  to  the  cause  of  Christ.  The 
problems  of  church  quarrels  and  of  church  discipline 
require  more  than  mortal  wisdom  to  manage.  It  is 
an  infinite  resource  upon  which  we  have  to  rely. 
Christ  is  equal  to  any  emergency.  Our  necessity  is 
his  opportunity.  Let  discouragement  and  opposition 
only  drive  us  to  him,  and  we  shall  be  given  the  wis- 
dom that  is  profitable  to  direct.  Committing  our  ways 
to  him,  he  will  surely  direct  our  paths. 

There  are  many  questions  of  marriage,  of  finance, 
of  affliction,  which  can  never  be  settled  in  advance. 
It  is  not  best  to  anticipate  trouble.  It  is  enough  to 
know  that  with  the  trial  Christ  will  provide  the  way 
of  escape.  Disappointments  wmII  come  to  have  a  dif- 
ferent spelling  and  to  mean  only  his  appointments. 
Light   is   sown   for    the    righteous    and   joy   for   the 


MADE    UNTO    US    WISDOM  455 

Upright  in  heart, — sown,  like  seed  hidden  in  the  dark 
earth,  but  certain  to  manifest  itself  in  flower  and  fruit. 
Even  seeming  evil  will  be  found  to  be  among  the  all 
things  that  work  together  for  good.  There  will  be 
plans  that,  so  far  as  human  sight  can  pierce,  fail  of 
accomplishment,  and  ideals  that  fail  to  be  realized. 
But  God  looks  at  the  intent  of  the  heart.  He  takes 
the  will  for  the  deed.  With  him  my  success  is  not 
something  outside  myself,  but  within  the  circle  of  my 
own  personality. 

Thoughts  hardly  to  be  packed 

Into  a  narrow  act, 

Fancies  that  broke  through  language  and  escaped; 

All  I  could  never  be, 

All  men  ignored  in  me, 

This  I  was  worth  to  God,  whose  wheel  the  pitcher  shaped. 

Our  first  business  then  is  to  have  Christ  for  our 
wisdom,  in  our  own  hearts  and  lives.  The  kingdom 
of  God  is  first  of  all  within  us.  Christ  is  made  unto 
us  wisdom,  because  he  is  also  made  our  justification, 
sanctification,  and  redemption.  But  the  triumph  of 
Christ  within  is  the  pledge  and  earnest  of  his  triumph 
without.  He  who  spared  not  his  own  Son  will,  with 
him,  freely  give  us  all  things.  The  good  we  strove 
for  shall  be  ours  some  day.  "  No  work  begun  shall 
ever  pause  for  death."  God  has  an  eternity  to  work 
in.  And  only  in  eternity  shall  it  be  known  how  wise 
they  were  who  took  Christ  for  their  wisdom,  and  who 
followed  him  even  unto  death. 

Dear  brethren,  you  go  out  from  us  with  our  bless- 
ing upon  your  heads.  You  leave  in  our  hearts  glad 
memories  of  your  faithfulness.     We  shall  follow  you 


456  MISCELLANIES 

with  our  prayers.  W'e  cherish  high  hopes  for  your 
future.  But  all  these  hopes  are  based  upon  our  con- 
fidence that  Christ  is  made  to  you  wisdom.  There 
are  many  snares  before  your  feet,  many  powers  of 
evil  to  attack  you.  There  will  be  fightings  without 
and  fears  within.  But  you  have  Christ.  He  is  the 
Victor,  and  the  victor's  wreath  is  upon  his  brow.  He 
can  make  you  victorious,  and  can  give  you  too,  the 
victor's  crown.  This  is  the  victory  that  overcometh 
the  world,  even  our  faith.  You  have  joined  your- 
selves to  him.  Now  abide  in  him,  and  the  very  wis- 
dom of  God  shall  be  yours. 


1906 
PRAYER  AND  MINISTRY 

Brethren  of  the  Graduating  Class  :  Last  words 
ought  to  be  memorable  words.  I  would  like  to  sum 
up  for  you  the  whole  substance  of  my  teaching  and 
the  whole  influence  of  the  seminary.  I  would  like  to 
say  the  one  thing  which  will  be  of  greatest  service 
through  your  future  lives.  I  speak  to  you  therefore 
of  prayer  and  ministry. 

You  remember  that,  when  deacons  were  chosen  by 
the  early  church,  the  apostles  urged  the  choice  in  order 
that  they  might  give  themselves  to  prayer  and  to  the 
ministry  of  the  word.  They  left  the  care  of  the  body 
to  others  and  devoted  themselves  to  care  of  the  soul. 
Sociology  may  be  the  business  of  deacons ;  the  min- 
ister's business  is  theology.     The  work  of  the  preacher 


PRAYER    AND    MINISTRY  457 

naturally  leads  to  the  work  of  the  deacon.  But  while 
the  deacon  serves  tables,  the  preacher  must  see  that 
there  are  tables  to  be  served;  or,  in  other  words, 
must  make  men  Christian  and  keep  them  so. 

The  Cin-istian  ministry  is  a  spiritual  vocation.  The 
preacher  is  a  communicator,  not  of  earthly  bread,  but 
of  the  bread  of  life.  He  deals  with  God's  truth. 
He  cannot  give,  unless  he  first  receives.  And  prayer 
is  receiving,  or  the  condition  of  receiving.  Actual 
reception  of  the  truth  from  God  is  the  indispensable 
condition  of  a  fruitful  ministry.  But  you  ask:  Have 
we  not  the  truth  already  in  the  Scriptures?  Yes,  in 
an  external  and  mechanical  way,  not  in  any  such  way 
as  to  move  us  or  others.  The  automobile  may  have 
within  itself  all  the  forces  and  appliances  for  motion, 
yet  may  be  cold  and  dead.  There  is  a  clutch  that 
sets  its  latent  energies  to  work.  Prayer  is  the  clutch 
that  makes  the  truth  effective,  sets  all  the  machinery 
of  the  soul  in  motion,  and  so  reveals  the  hidden  power 
within. 

Prayer  and  ministry!  The  apostles,  in  choosing 
that  order  of  the  words,  seem  to  have  put  prayer 
first,  not  only  in  time,  but  in  importance.  It  is  as  much 
as  to  say :  We  are  only  media,  instruments,  channels  of 
communication.  The  truth,  the  love,  the  power,  must 
come  from  above.  "  In  thy  light  shall  we  see  light." 
I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  all  errors  of  doctrine  have 
resulted  from  the  neglect  of  prayer.  I  doubt  whether 
men  who  live  a  life  of  prayer  can  doubt  the  unity  and 
sufficiency  of  Scripture,  the  supremacy  of  righteous- 
ness in  God,  the  depravity  and  helplessness  of  man, 
God's    initiative    in   human   salvation,    the    deity    and 


45S  MISCELLANIES 

atonement  of  Christ.  There  is  something  in  prayer 
which  impresses  all  these  truths  upon  the  mind,  if 
indeed  prayer  does  not  implicitly  involve  and  presup- 
pose them. 

Prayer  is  detachment  from  the  world  and  attach- 
ment to  Christ.  It  is  the  love  of  Christ  that  con- 
strains us;  not  our  love  to  Christ  nor  Christ's  love 
to  us,  but  Christ's  love  in  us,  the  great  fountain 
overflowing  and  filling  the  little  pipes  and  tanks 
constructed  to  receive  it.  But  prayer  lifts  the  gates, 
removes  hindrances,  and  lets  the  tide  flow  in.  Abi- 
ding in  Christ  is  abiding  in  his  love,  and  that  abiding 
is  impossible  without  prayer.  I  do  not  believe  that 
loveless  and  selfish  living  is  ever  found  in  connec- 
tion with  earnest  and  habitual  prayer.  I  am  not 
speaking  of  the  vain  repetitions  of  heathenism  or  of 
Romanism,  but  of  the  real  daily  communion  with  God 
which  we  call  believing  prayer.  The  great  lovers  of 
their  kind  like  Livingstone  and  Paton  have  been  men 
who  devoted  hours  at  a  time  to  prayer.  Prayer  was 
the  laying  of  the  head  on  Jesus'  breast,  the  drawing- 
near  to  the  heart  of  Christ,  the  making  of  his  sym- 
pathies and  affections  to  be  ours. 

Prayer  is  an  exercise  of  will.  Coleridge  called  it 
the  intensest  exercise  of  the  human  understanding. 
It  is  that,  but  it  is  more.  The  will  embraces  the 
understanding,  and  prayer  requires  will.  We  dislike 
to  think,  but  we  still  more  dislike  to  pray.  Only  as 
the  Holy  Spirit  helps  our  infirmities  do  we  ever  pray 
aright.  But  here  more  than  anywhere  else  do  we 
find  that,  in  our  working  out  of  our  own  salvation, 
it  is  God  who  works  in  us,  both  to  will  and  to  work 


PKAYER    AND    MINISTRY  459 

of  his  good  pleasure.  And  the  resuh  is  that  our 
strength  is  the  strength  of  ten,  because  our  heart  is 
pure.  I  do  not  beHeve  that  men  of  prayer  are  ever 
left  to  impotence  and  uselessness.  Even  when  they 
are  thrust  into  dungeons,  they  are  prisoners  of  Jesus 
Christ;  and,  though  the  foundations  of  the  prison 
may  not  be  shaken  nor  the  jailers  converted,  yet  their 
bonds  are  made  to  further  the  interests  of  the  gospel 
and  to  manifest  the  power  of  Christ. 

I  am  persuaded  that  all  decline  in  doctrine  or  polity, 
in  conscientiousness  or  liberality,  in  evangelistic  activ- 
ity or  missionary  zeal  in  our  churches,  is  due  to  neg- 
lect of  prayer.  I  am  persuaded  also  that  the  only 
remedy  for  these  ills  is  in  new  supplication,  and  that 
the  ministers  of  the  churches  must,  above  all  things 
else,  be  instructors  and  examples  of  perseverance  and 
power  in  prayer.  Does  it  seem  strange  to  you  that 
one  who  represents  an  institution  for  theological  edu- 
cation should  so  emphasize  one  of  the  means  of  suc- 
cess? Ah,  let  us  not  mistake!  Prayer  is  primary, 
education  secondary.  With  prayer  the  world  can  be 
converted,  education  or  no  education.  But  all  the 
education  in  the  world  will  not  convert  the  world 
without  prayer.  You  have  had  the  education.  Now 
the  one  question  of  your  lives  is :  Will  you  be  men 
of  prayer? 

Prayer  requires  will.  You  never  will  be  men  of 
prayer  unless  from  the  beginning  of  your  ministry 
you  determine  that  prayer  shall  have  the  first  place, 
and  not  the  second  place,  in  your  plan  of  life.  And 
this  must  be  no  mere  closet  resolve,  it  must  be  organ- 
ized into  habit,  and  made  your  regular  business.     We 


460  MISCELLANIES 

smile  at  the  formal  and  mechanical  worship  of  the 
Roman  Church.  But  let  us  give  credit  to  its  priests. 
They  do  give  time  to  devotion.  And  we  must  give 
time,  and  the  best  time,  to  prayer,  if  we  would  make 
it  a  living  power  in  our  lives.  The  most  searching 
question  that  can  be  put  to  the  ministers  of  our  day 
is  this  one:  Do  you  daily  set  apart  the  first  and  the 
best  hour  of  your  day  for  private  prayer  and  medi- 
tation upon  Scripture?  How  much  of  spiritual  bar- 
renness and  despondency,  how  much  of  ill  success  in 
preaching  and  pastoral  work,  can  be  accounted  for, 
by  the  mere  fact  that  ministry  was  not  preceded  by 
prayer ! 

All  great  revivals  of  religion,  all  great  leaderships 
in  the  kingdom  of  God,  have  been  born  in  prayer. 
All  the  great  crises  in  Jesus'  life,  his  baptism,  his 
choice  of  his  disciples,  his  transfiguration,  his  agony 
in  Gethsemane,  were  preceded  or  accompanied  by 
prayer,  prayer  often  long  continued,  and  accentuated 
by  strong  crying  and  tears.  Are  we  better  than  the 
Son  of  God,  that  we  can  dispense  with  prayer?  If 
he  upon  whom  the  Spirit  rested  without  measure 
needed  refreshment  and  reenforcement  for  his  work, 
shall  we  say  that  we  can  do  without  them  ?  My  breth- 
ren, our  praying  will  be  the  measure  of  our  personal 
religious  progress  and  of  our  success  in  winning  men 
to  Christ. 

With  prayer  all  other  things  will  go  that  pertain 
unto  life  and  godliness.  The  soul  that  abides  in  Christ 
and  in  which  Christ  abides  will  never  be  left  desolate. 
There  is  no  spiritual  orphanage  for  those  who  use 
the   Lord's   appointed  means.      He  has   promised  to 


SINGLENESS    OF    MIND  461 

manifest  himself  to  them  and  through  them.  They 
shall  bring  forth  fruit,  and  the  world  shall  see  in  the 
stately  edifice  of  Christian  character  and  in  the  grow- 
ing conquests  of  the  kingdom  the  evidence  that  prayer 
is  not  in  vain.  Prayer  is  simply  the  lining  up  of  the 
human  will  to  meet  the  divine  will,  the  ratifying  of 
God's  decree  by  our  decree.  God  accomplishes  his 
purposes  through  the  prayers  of  his  people,  so  that 
where  there  is  no  prayer  there  is  no  ministry. 

I  have  argued  this  matter  as  if  it  were  a  mere  ques- 
tion of  privilege.  But  it  is  a  question  of  duty.  When 
Jesus  says,  "  Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive,"  the  word 
"  ask "  is  not  a  subjunctive,  meaning,  "  If  ye  ask, 
ye  shall  receive."  It  is  an  imperative.  Prayer  is  the 
duty  and  the  business  of  the  minister's  life.  And  so, 
as  my  last  word  to  this  Class  of  1906,  of  which  I 
have  such  happy  memories  and  such  exalted  hopes,  I 
urge  the  duty  of  unremitting  and  earnest  supplication. 
May  wisdom  and  love  and  power  be  yours,  because 
you  detach  yourselves  from  secular  concerns,  and  give 
yourselves  to  prayer  and  to  the  ministry  of  the  word! 


1907 

SINGLENESS   OF   MIND 

Brethren  of  the  Graduating  Class  :  When  our 
Lord  came  to  his  baptism,  he  consecrated  himself  to 
the  work  before  him.  In  the  waters  of  the  Jordan 
he  was  buried  in  the  likeness  of  his  coming  death, 


462  MISCELLANIES 

resurrection.  In  this  symbolic  act  he  defined  the  pur- 
pose of  his  Hfe;  he  put  all  other  aims  aside;  he  sur- 
rendered himself  absolutely  to  the  will  of  God.  He 
could  say,  with  the  prophet :  "  Therefore  have  I  set  my 
face  like  a  flint,  and  I  know  that  I  shall  not  be  put  to 
shame." 

You  have  come  to  a  similar  crisis  in  your  own 
lives.  Your  preparatory  work  is  over.  The  future, 
with  its  promise  of  labor  and  struggle  and  reward, 
beckons  you  onward.  With  you,  as  with  Jesus,  all 
depends  upon  the  attitude  of  your  souls.  Have  you 
an  undivided  heart  ?  Can  you  say  with  Paul :  "  I 
determined  not  to  know  anything  .  .  .  save  Jesus 
Christ,  and  him  crucified  "  ?  It  is  singleness  of 
MIND  to  which  I  would  exhort  you,  singleness  of 
mind  in  your  pursuit  of  truth,  in  your  building  up 
of  character,  and  in  your  doing  of  good  to  others. 

Just  one  preliminary  word  as  to  the  meaning  of 
the  phrase  "  singleness  of  mind."  It  implies  that  a 
unified  life  is  the  only  normal,  happy,  or  successful 
life.  We  are  complex  beings,  with  many  diverse  im- 
pulses and  powers.  Sin  has  wrought  disharmony  and 
disorganization.  Intellect  and  affection  often  work 
against  each  other;  conscience  and  will  are  at  cross- 
purposes.  Only  the  fear  and  love  of  God  can  reduce 
our  faculties  to  order  and  can  give  us  peace,  purity, 
and  power.  "  Unite  my  heart  to  fear  thy  name," 
should  be  our  constant  prayer.  A  double  life  is  at 
best  a  weak  life.  When  it  is  kept  up  consciously  and 
intentionally,  as  is  so  well  illustrated  in  Stevenson's 
story  of  Doctor  Jekyll  and  Mr.  Hyde,  it  becomes 
hypocrisy  and  wickedness. 


SINGLENESS   OF    MIND  463 

The  single  eye — consider  now  how  indispensable  it  is 
in  gaining  knowledge  of  the  truth.  Why  is  it  that 
men  run  into  error  and  make  shipwreck  of  their  faith? 
Is  it  not  because  they  neglect  to  do  the  duties  which 
they  know,  delay  when  they  ought  to  go  forward, 
parley  with  doubt  and  listen  to  temptation,  turn  away 
their  thoughts  from  the  practical  and  attend  to  the 
merely  speculative?  It  is  only  the  eyes  of  the  heart 
that  really  see,  and  those  eyes  are  the  conscience  and 
the  will.  We  choose  what  we  will  believe,  and  free- 
dom is  given  us  for  this  great  decision.  How  great 
the  need  that  these  eyes  be  enlightened  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  so  that  by  doing  the  truth  we  come  to  know 
the  truth ! 

There  are  two  words  of  Goethe  which  we  do  well 
to  remember.  The  first  is,  "  When  all  is  said,  the 
greatest  art  is  to  limit  and  isolate  one's  self."  The 
second  is,  "  Loving  sympathy  is  essential  to  produc- 
tive criticism."  Let  us  add  that  man's  greatest  exer- 
cise of  freedom  is  in  the  will  to  believe.  We  are  not 
passive  creatures  at  the  mercy  of  external  influences, 
white  paper  for  the  universe  to  make  its  marks  on. 
We  determine  what  shall  influence  us,  and  in  that 
determination  we  limit  ourselves  and  reveal  our  char- 
acters. And  there  is  nothing  arbitrary  or  undignified 
in  this.  All  God's  works  are  self-limitations  of  the 
divine  nature,  and  all  worthy  work  of  ours  is  the  result 
of  self-limitation  also.  We  must  inhibit  extraneous 
impulses  and  attractions,  and  hold  our  minds  to  a 
single  thought.  Otherwise  the  truth  evades  us.  It 
tolerates  no  divided  allegiance.  "  If  therefore  thine 
eye  be  single,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light  " ; 


464  MISCELLANIES 

but  "  if  the  light  that  is  in  thee  be  darkness,  how  great 
is  the  darkness  !  " 

The  single  eye — without  this  you  cannot  build  up  a 
strong  and  consistent  character.  This  is  a  time  for 
fundamentals;  do  not  blame  me  if  I  remind  you  of  the 
first  commandment  of  the  Decalogue,  "  Thou  shalt  have 
no  other  gods  before  me,"  and  of  that  greater  com- 
mandment, "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart."  The  single  eye  is  indispensable,  if  we 
are  to  choose  the  right  object  of  living — an  object 
which  will  transform  us  into  its  own  likeness.  God's 
love  is  the  root  and  incentive  to  all  virtue.  We  must 
set  the  Lord  always  before  our  face,  that  we  may  not 
be  moved.  And  since  Christ  is  the  Lord,  God  mani- 
fested for  our  redemption,  we  are  to  see  God  in  him, 
and,  beholding  as  in  a  mirror  the  glory  of  the  Lord, 
we  are  to  be  transformed  into  the  same  image,  even 
as  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord. 

It  is  character  that  counts  in  God's  sight,  and  it  is 
character  by  which  we  are  to  be  judged.  True,  we 
are  saved  by  character  only  as  that  character  is  the 
result  of  Christ's  indwelling,  rather  than  the  result  of 
our  self-righteous  striving.  Yet  a  religion  that  does 
not  change  the  heart,  subdue  the  passions,  crucify  the 
flesh  with  its  affections  and  lusts,  will  not  pass  the 
test  of  the  great  final  day.  Christian  doctrine  with- 
out Christian  ethics  is  a  tree  without  fruits,  but  it  is 
equally  true  that  Christian  ethics  without  Christian 
doctrine  is  a  tree  without  roots.  The  single  eye  is 
needed  if  we  are  to  be  rooted  and  grounded  in  Christ. 
We  must  choose  him  as  the  object  of  all  our  ac- 
tivity and  the  source  of  all  our  strength.     We  must 


SINGLENESS    OF    MIND  465 

count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the 
knowledge  of  him.  For  us,  as  for  Paul,  to  live  must 
be  Christ. 

The  single  eye — how  indispensable  in  doing  good  to 
others!  Singleness  of  mind  is  the  only  way  to  power. 
"  This  one  thing  I  do,"  says  Paul.  There  is  a  prize  set 
before  him,  and  toward  that  prize  he  runs.  He  forgets 
the  things  that  are  behind ;  he  casts  aside  every  weight ; 
he  redeems  the  time ;  he  presses  on  to  the  mark.  There 
are  men  who  are  happy  in  doing  everything  but  the 
one  task  to  which  God  has  set  them.  The  men  who 
succeed,  and  who  influence  their  generation,  are  those 
who  absorb  their  energies  in  their  appointed  work,  who 
turn  small  occasions  into  great,  who  do  with  their 
might  wdiat  their  hands  find  to  do. 

Gladstone  attributed  his  success  to  his  habit  of  giv- 
ing his  whole  mind  to  one  thing  at  a  time.  One  of 
our  best  pastors  declared  that  he  had  won  by  burying 
himself  in  the  work  to  which  God  had  called  him. 
Moody  resolved  to  prove  what  God  could  do  through 
a  man  wholly  devoted  to  his  service.  Jehoshaphat 
set  his  face  to  seek  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  did  great 
things  for  him  and  by  him.  When  almost  all  Israel 
perished  in  the  wilderness,  God  said  of  Caleb:  "Be- 
cause he  .  .  .  hath  followed  me  fully,  him  will  I  bring 
into  the  land  .  .  .  and  his  seed  shall  possess  it." 

We  expect  great  things  of  this  Class,  not  so  much 
because  of  your  intellectual  and  social  gifts,  as  because 
you  have  in  your  seminary  course  shown  something 
of  this  singleness  of  mind  of  which  I  have  been  speak- 
ing. We  have  confidence  that  you  have  made  the 
great  decision,  and  have  made  it  aright.     But  now, 


466  MISCELLANIES 

before  we  part  from  you,  I  call  upon  you  to  make  it 
again,  to  reaffirm  it  with  renewed  emphasis.  You  can- 
not serve  God  and  Mammon.  You  can  have  but  one 
ruling  passion.  Let  that  be  the  love  of  your  Maker 
and  Redeemer.  God  forbid  that  you  should  glory  save 
in  the  Cross  of  your  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

May  I  remind  you  also  that  you  have  but  one  life 
to  live,  and  that  life  is  short?  Let  it  all  be  given  to 
Christ,  your  God  and  Saviour,  and  to  the  saving  of 
the  world  for  which  he  died.  Preach  Christ,  the  liv- 
ing and  present  Redeemer,  as  the  one  panacea  for  the 
world's  disorders,  the  one  hope  and  refuge  of  man- 
kind. Christ  is  all  and  in  all,  and  your  Christianity 
is  applicable  to  all  social,  political,  and  moral  needs. 
Be  as  broad  as  Christ,  but  then  be  as  narrow  as  Christ 
also.  Declare  that  there  is  no  other  name  given  among 
men  whereby  they  can  be  saved,  that  he  who  has  seen 
Christ  has  seen  the  Father,  that  he  who  denies  the 
Son  denies  also  the  Father  who  has  sent  him. 

We  believe  in  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism. 
But  we  also  have  fellowship  with  all  who  are  seeking 
the  truth,  because  we  believe  that  Christ  is  the  Light 
that  lighteth  every  man.  Our  singleness  of  mind  sees 
Christ  in  all  who  labor  disinterestedly  for  the  welfare 
of  humanity,  while  yet  we  hold  ourselves  bound  to 
show  them  the  way  of  the  Lord  more  fully  than  many 
of  them  have  yet  apprehended  it.  We  must  wait  for 
the  great  testing  day  before  we  can  finally  estimate 
their  faith  and  their  works.  But  Christian  love  can 
see  gleams  of  light  even  in  darksome  places,  and  can 
believe  that  many  whom  the  church  has  ignored  or 
cast  out,  aye,  many  whom  on  earth  it  never  knew. 


SINGLENESS    OF    MIND  467 

shall  come  from  the  east  and  from  the  west,  and  shall 
sit  down  with  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  in  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

You  are  soon  to  be  scattered  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth.  But  your  fellowship  will  continue,  because  you 
are  one  in  Christ,  and  by  one  Spirit  have  access  to  the 
leather.  We  trust  that  you  will  ever  live  in  fellow- 
ship with  us,  and  for  this  we  have  the  same  guar- 
antee in  the  fact  of  our  common  relation  to  Christ. 
Wherever  you  go,  we  shall  remember  you  and  pray 
for  you.  We  shall  hope  to  see  your  faces  again,  when 
you  return  to  the  seminary  as  visitors  or  examiners. 
And  though  some  of  us  may  be  absent  because  God 
has  taken  us,  the  fellowship  will  not  be  broken;  the 
interruption  will  be  only  outward  and  temporary ;  they 
who  sowed  and  they  who  reaped  will  at  last  rejoice 
together. 

And  now,  with  this  last  exhortation  to  singleness  of 
mind,  in  the  pursuit  of  truth,  in  the  building  up  of 
character,  in  devotion  to  the  saving  of  men,  I  com- 
mend you  all,  members  of  this  beloved  class,  to  Him 
who  is  able  to  guard  you  from  stumbling,  and  to  set 
you  before  the  presence  of  his  glory  with  exceeding 
joy.  We  have  dedicated  this  seminary  to  Christ,  our 
God  and  Saviour,  and  to  him,  the  omnipresent,  omnis- 
cient, and  omnipotent  Lord,  we  now  dedicate  you. 
May  he  help  you  to  fight  the  good  fight,  to  finish  your 
course,  and  to  keep  the  faith.  May  you  be  among  the 
wise  who  at  the  last  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the 
firmament  and,  having  turned  many  unto  righteous- 
ness, as  the  stars  forever  and  ever!  And  to  the  only 
God  our  Saviour,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  be 


468  MISCELLANIES 

glory,  majesty,  dominion,  and  power,  before  all  time, 
and  now,  and  for  evermore.    Amen. 


1908 
THE  JOY   OF   THE  LORD 

Brethren  of  the  Graduating  Class:  I  give  you 
a  motto  to-night.  It  will  serve  you  as  you  go  out  to 
your  work.  I  hope  you  will  carry  it  with  you  all  your 
lives.  It  is  a  well-worn  motto,  for,  as  nearly  as  I  can 
compute,  it  is  twenty-three  hundred  and  fifty  years  old. 
It  comes  down  to  us  from  the  times  of  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah,  when  a  new  Jerusalem  had  to  be  built  upon 
the  ruins  of  the  old.  In  view  of  their  poverty  and 
weakness  the  Jews  were  tempted  to  mourn.  But  their 
leaders  restored  the  feast  of  Tabernacles  which  com- 
memorated God's  guidance  of  his  people  in  the  wilder- 
ness. They  began  the  public  reading  of  the  law.  Yet 
they  urged  the  duty  of  gladness.  And  the  reason  for 
it  all  was  the  motto  which  I  repeat  to  you  to-night, 
"  For  the  joy  of  the  Lord  is  your  strength." 

How  much  of  the  motto  those  Jews  understood,  I 
do  not  know.  It  must  have  reminded  them  of  the 
covenant-keeping  Jehovah  whose  representatives  they 
were,  and  whose  protection  insured  their  safety.  Even 
the  human  authors  of  the  saying  may  not  have  known 
all  it  meant.  It  had  a  divine  author,  as  well  as  a 
human.  It  was  a  word  of  the  Lord,  as  well  as  a  word 
of  man.  And  we  can  interpret  it  better  than  could 
they.     The  joy  of  the  Lord  is  the  joy  of  Christ,  and 


THE    JOY   OF    THE   LORD  469 

the  joy  of  the  Lord  is  our  strength,  because  our  union 
with  Christ  makes  his  joy  our  own. 

There  is  no  real  joy  apart  from  Christ.  The  joy 
of  pardon  is  possible  to  us  only  as  we  become  one  with 
liim  who  is  justified  in  the  Spirit,  the  perfect  exemplar 
and  source  of  redeemed  humanity.  There  is  One  over 
whom  sin  and  death  have  no  more  dominion.  He  has 
borne  our  guilt;  he  has  made  purification  of  sins;  he 
represents  us  before  God.  In  him  we  have  entered  into 
the  very  life  of  God;  we  are  accepted  in  the  Beloved; 
his  joy  of  acceptance  has  become  ours.  The  joy  of  the 
Lord  is  the  joy  of  being  pardoned  after  being  con- 
demned, of  being  right  after  having  been  wrong,  of 
having  peace  with  God  after  being  shut  out  from  his 
presence.  And  this  is  the  first  joy  of  the  Christian 
life. 

But  it  is  not  the  last.  There  are  the  beginnings  of 
purity  and  of  unselfishness,  which  testify  to  a  new 
force  working  in  our  natures.  The  joy  of  the  Lord  is 
our  strength,  not  only  because  it  takes  away  all  fear 
of  God's  anger,  but  because  it  is  evidence  of  a  power 
to  overcome  evil  and  to  do  good.  Joining  ourselves 
to  Christ,  we  have  become  partakers  of  his  life,  a  life 
that  is  indestructible  and  eternal.  I  do  not  agree  with 
Ritschl,  when  he  makes  mastery  over  the  world  to  be 
the  main  blessing  of  redemption.  But  I  do  hold  that 
the  joy  of  the  Lord  is  our  strength,  in  part  at  least, 
because  union  with  Christ  imparts  a  holy  energy  which 
puts  our  sins  beneath  our  feet,  turns  irksome  duty  into 
delight,  impels  to  all  manner  of  Christian  work  and 
service,  and  makes  that  work  and  service  mighty  to 
save  men  around  us. 


470  MISCELLANIES 

The  joy  of  the  Lord  is  the  joy  of  self-sacrifice,  and 
that  because  it  is  the  joy  of  love.  Not  only  peace  and 
power  are  the  fruits  of  it,  but  also  partnership  with 
Christ  in  his  great  work  of  saving  others.  Could  you 
enjoy  a  Delmonico  banquet  if  you  knew  that  a  thou- 
sand starving  creatures  at  the  door  were  crying  for 
bread?  Would  you  not  rejoice  to  give  up  your  own 
meal,  and  to  distribute  to  them?  The  heathen  concep- 
tion of  joy  was  that  of  feasting  "  on  the  hills,  like 
gods  together,  careless  of  mankind."  But  the  joy  of 
Christ  was  the  joy  of  coming  down  from  heaven  to 
feed  the  hungry,  to  succor  the  oppressed,  to  seek  and 
to  save  those  that  were  lost.  And  we  have  the  joy 
of  our  Lord  only  as  we  enter  into  the  fellowship  of 
his  sufferings,  and  find  it  more  blessed  to  give  than 
to  receive. 

There  is  joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  over  one 
sinner  that  repenteth.  What  joy  that  must  be  in  the 
heart  of  God!  It  is  that  joy  which  in  Christ  over- 
flows and  takes  possession  of  us.  It  is  a  joy  of  triumph 
as  well  as  of  sacrifice.  The  long  labor  shall  not  be 
in  vain.  God's  elect  shall  be  gathered  in.  The  joy  of 
the  Cross  shall  become  the  joy  of  the  Crown.  Peace, 
power,  partnership,  these  shall  be  followed  by  posses- 
sion. The  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth,  and  all  things 
shall  be  theirs.  Indeed,  all  things  even  now  are  ours 
de  jure;  they  shall  be  ours  de  facto.  Because  we  are 
Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's,  the  kingdom  and  the 
dominion,  and  the  greatness  of  the  kingdoms  under 
the  whole  heaven,  shall  be  given  to  the  people  of  the 
saints  of  the  Most  High. 

This  may  be  the  last  class  which  I  address  on  such 


THE    JOY    OF    THE    LORD  47I 

an  anniversary  occasion.  Whether  this  be  so  or  not  I 
take  pleasure  in  commending  to  you,  members  of  the 
class  of  1908,  this  motto  of  olden  time,  interpreted  in 
the  light  of  Christ's  own  teaching  and  example :  It  is 
safe  to  follow  him,  to  seek  our  joy  where  he  sought 
his;  to  find  it,  not  in  receiving,  but  in  giving.  We 
cannot  do  this  by  any  mere  effort  of  our  w'ills.  His 
joy  can  be  ours,  only  as  he  is  ours,  and  as  he  himself 
becomes  the  soul  of  our  soul  and  the  life  of  our  life. 
As  my  last  word  to  you,  therefore,  I  urge  you  to  abide 
in  Christ  and  to  let  him  abide  in  you.  Only  thus  can 
you  have  that  joy  of  the  Lord  which  brings  peace 
and  purity  and  power;  which  makes  you  masters  of 
men  because  you  are  their  servants,  and  which  insures 
your  participation  in  the  victory  and  the  triumph  of 
Christ. 

You  are  going  out  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  These 
happy  days  of  fellowship  are  to  be  followed  by  separa- 
tion and,  perhaps,  by  trial.  But  you  go  to  preach  glad 
news,  the  glad  news  of  the  kingdom,  the  glad  news 
that  the  penalty  of  sin  has  been  borne  and  that  the 
dominion  of  sin  has  been  broken.  Go  with  gladness  in 
your  hearts,  and  let  your  ministry  be  a  ministry  of 
gladness.  "  Have  peace  in  thine  own  heart,"  says 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  "  else  thou  wilt  never  be  able  to 
communicate  peace  to  others."  May  God  give  to  you 
the  joy  of  his  salvation,  or  restore  it  unto  you  if  you 
have  lost  it,  so  that  you  may  be  radiating  centers  of 
gladness,  beginners  and  prophets  of  that  glad  day 
when  the  joy  of  the  Lord  shall  fill  the  earth. 

Weak  and  unworthy  as  we  are,  it  is  a  wonderful 
thing  that  such  a  gospel  is  committed  to  us,  and  more 


472  MISCELLANIES 

wonderful  still  that  we  can  succeed  in  proclaiming  it. 
Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things?  Truly  our  suffi- 
ciency is  of  God.  May  the  joy  of  the  Lord  be  your 
strength!  May  he  give  you  the  joy  of  following  in 
his  footsteps,  the  joy  of  unbroken  communion  with 
him,  the  joy  of  seeing  many  brought  into  that  same 
communion  through  your  words,  the  joy  at  last  of 
hearing  him  say :  "  Well  done,  good  and  faithful 
servant;  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things;  I 
will  make  thee  ruler  over  many  things.  Enter  thou 
into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord !  " 


1909 

UNSEARCHABLE  RICHES 

Brethren  of  the  Graduating  Class:  The  laws 
of  our  seminary  require  that  its  president  should  ad- 
dress you  on  this  happy,  yet  momentous,  occasion. 
Though  I  have  been  absent  for  the  past  year,  I  gladly 
avail  myself  of  the  opportunity  to  renew  a  valued 
acquaintance  and  to  give  you  a  few  parting  words  of 
encouragement  and  of  counsel.  You  have  passed  your 
period  of  scholastic  preparation,  and  the  most  of  you 
are  to  enter  at  once  upon  your  active  ministry.  It  is 
a  glorious  but  solemn  service  to  which  you  have  de- 
voted yourselves.  I  bring  you  both  cheer  and  admoni- 
tion in  the  words  of  the  Apostle  Paul :  "  Unto  me, 
who  am  less  than  the  least  of  all  saints,  was  this  grace 
given,  to  preach  unto  the  Gentiles  the  unsearchable 
riches  of  Christ." 


UNSEARCHABLE    RICHES  473 

"  Unsearchable  riches  " — this  is  the  fund  upon  which 
you  have  to  draw  in  your  preaching  of  the  gospel. 
But  notice  that  it  is  not  a  vague  and  intangible  fund 
like  the  moisture  or  electricity  of  the  atmosphere,  but  a 
concrete  embodiment  of  God's  truth  and  power,  "  the 
unsearchable  riches  of  Christ."  Think  for  a  moment 
what  this  means.  Three  things  are  involved  in  it. 
First,  that  Christ  is  a  present  God,  Immanuel,  God  with 
us,  not  belonging  simply  to  past  history  or  to  the  courts 
of  heaven,  but  here  and  now,  with  us  always,  so  that 
in  seeing  him  we  have  seen  the  Father,  and  by  receiv- 
ing him  into  our  hearts  we  may  be  filled  unto  all  the 
fulness  of  God.  In  this  agnostic  age  men  are  every- 
where groping  after  God,  when  he  is  not  far  from  any 
one  of  us.  Christ  is  a  present  God  in  creation,  for 
every  drop  of  dew  and  every  revolving  planet  is 
Christ's  handiwork.  Christ  is  a  present  God  in  his- 
tory, for  it  is  he  who  is  moralizing  the  nations  and 
conducting  evolution  to  its  goal.  Conscience  is  Christ's 
light,  lighting  every  man  that  comes  into  the  world, 
bond  or  free,  Jew  or  heathen.  But  Christ  is  a  present 
God,  in  a  special  sense,  to  the  Christian,  for  to  the 
Christian  he  fulfils  his  promise  that  he  will  manifest 
himself  as  he  does  not  to  the  world.  And  this  is  a  part 
of  the  unsearchable  riches  which  you  have  to  preach, 
that  in  Christ  we  have  no  longer  a  God  far  away,  un- 
recognizable, inaccessible,  but  a  God  near  at  hand ; 
nearer  to  us  than  the  nearest  earthly  friend,  not  only 
filling  the  universe  with  his  presence,  but  dwelling  in 
every  humble  and  contrite  heart. 

But  this  is  only  the  beginning  of  the  unsearchable 
riches.    The  Christ  whom  we  are  to  preach  is  not  only 


474  MISCELLANIES 

a  present  God,  but.  he  is  an  infinite  Saviour.  The  first 
and  greatest  need  of  the  world  is  the  pardon  of  its 
sin.  Those  who  are  not  sick  will  feel  no  need  of  a 
physician,  and  they  who  dull  the  sense  of  guilt  will 
cry,  ''Peace,  peace!"  when  there  is  no  peace.  So 
you  are  to  preach  the  law  and  the  justice  of  God, 
whether  men  hear  or  forbear.  But  you  have  the  great 
privilege  of  stilling  the  otherwise  inextinguishable  sense 
of  guilt  by  the  assurance  that  Christ,  the  eternal  Lamb 
of  God,  has  taken  upon  himself  the  burden  of  our  sins 
and  has  made  complete  atonement  for  them,  so  that 
the  believer  may  join  himself  to  him  who  is  victor 
over  sin  and  death,  and  may  become  partaker  of  his 
justification  and  his  life.  In  Christ  we  have  pardon 
for  the  past.  But  atonement  for  sin  is  not  the  only 
part  of  Christ's  saving  work.  He  is  not  simply  a 
Christ  for  us,  but  he  is  a  Christ  in  us,  a  new  power 
of  holy  living;  a  deliverer  not  only  from  the  penalty, 
but  also  from  the  dominion,  of  sin.  I  charge  you  never 
to  forget  or  to  conceal  either  one  of  these  two  essen- 
tials of  Christianity :  Christ  as  an  atoning  sacrifice, 
and  Christ  as  an  inward  source  of  righteousness, 
for  both  these  are  needed  to  make  him  an  infinite 
Saviour. 

The  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  include  a  third 
gift  of  which  you  particularly  stand  in  need,  I  mean 
the  almighty  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  If  Paul  could 
say,  "Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things?  "  how  much 
more  we,  who  have  smaller  powers  and  more  limited 
experience.  But  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  pro- 
vide a  supply  equal  to  all  our  needs.  By  his  Spirit 
he  joins  himself  to  us  in  a  union  so  close  that  his  own 


UNSEARCHABLE    RICHES  475 

life  flows  into  us;  we  sit  with  him  in  heavenly  places; 
he  gives  us  of  his  power,  and  things  are  made  to  work 
together  for  our  good.  By  his  Spirit  he  is  made  to  us 
wisdom,  and  he  himself  speaks  through  our  feeble 
utterances,  so  that  they  convict  and  convert  and  sanc- 
tify those  who  hear.  The  Scriptures  give  great  prom- 
ises to  the  preacher.  The  mighty  winds  that  sweep  the 
forest  and  prostrate  the  tallest  trees,  the  floods  of 
rain  that  pour  upon  us  like  the  deluge  of  Noah  when 
the  windows  of  heaven  are  opened,  the  conflagrations 
which  lay  low  whole  cities,  are  only  symbols  of  the 
power  of  Christ's  Spirit,  upon  which  we  may  draw  in 
our  proclamation  of  the  gospel. 

Do  not  forget  that  Christ's  unsearchable  riches  pro- 
vide co-operating  agencies  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  work 
outside  of  you  also.  Great  movements  are  going  on 
in  society,  in  commerce,  in  education,  in  government, 
in  international  affairs,  in  the  politics  of  distant  nations, 
all  of  which  are  inspired  or  controlled  by  him  to  whom 
has  been  given  all  power  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  The 
battle  against  evil  may  seem  to  go  against  us  in  our 
narrow  environment,  while  yet  the  progress  over  the 
field  in  general  is  marked  and  sure.  Let  us  hold  the 
fort  where  we  are,  in  the  certainty  that  our  day  of  vic- 
tory and  rejoicing  will  come  also.  Our  business  is  to 
do  the  work  to  which  Christ  sets  us,  trusting  that  the 
great  Commander  will  make  our  service  an  integral 
part  of  his  strategic  plan,  and  that  when  he  comes  in 
triumph  it  shall  be  manifest  that  our  labor  was  not  in 
vain  in  the  Lord. 

These  are  simple  and  homely  and  old-fashioned 
assurances,  my  brethren,  but  they  are  such  as  have  in 


476  MISCELLANIES 

all  the  Christian  centuries  made  heroes  and  martyrs 
of  the  faith.  Since  you  bring  to  men  a  present  God, 
an  infinite  Saviour,  and  an  ahiiighty  Holy  Spirit,  it  is 
grace  indeed  which  has  commissioned  you  to  preach 
the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.  You  need  nothing 
more  than  this  to  ennoble  your  lives.  You  need  no 
other  object  of  study,  for  in  Christ  are  hid  all  the 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  All  philosophy 
and  science,  all  sociology  and  ethics,  are  included  in 
him,  and  if  you  only  apply  Christ's  truth  to  all  the  rela- 
tions of  life,  your  preaching  will  be  as  broad  as  the 
world.  Since  in  him  dwells  all  the  fulness  of  the 
Godhead  bodily,  his  Cross  is  the  disclosure  of  the  heart 
of  God,  the  unveiling  of  the  secret  of  the  universe,  the 
manifestation  in  time  of  the  truth  of  eternity.  I 
beseech  you  then  to  know  nothing  but  Christ  and 
him  crucified.  God  forbid  that  we  should  glory,  save 
in  the  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  through 
which  the  world  has  been  crucified  to  us  and  we  to 
the  world. 

Have  you  these  unsearchable  riches  in  your  posses- 
sion, so  that  you  can  communicate  them?  I  trust  you 
respond  gladly:  "  I  know  whom  I  have  believed,  and 
I  rejoice  that  I  can  make  him  known  to  others."  Abide 
in  Christ  by  an  entire  consecration,  and  let  his  words 
abide  in  you  by  an  appropriating  faith.  Make  sure  that 
you  have  these  unsearchable  riches  for  your  own,  and 
then  from  the  heart  speak  to  the  heart.  So  these  un- 
searchable riches — a  present  God,  an  infinite  Saviour, 
an  almighty  Spirit — shall  become  others'  riches  also, 
until  our  great  Redeemer  shall  see  of  the  travail  of 
his  soul  and  shall  be  satisfied.    I  commend  3^ou  to  him 


HOLD    FAST  477 

and  to  the  word  of  his  grace,  in  all  confidence  that  he 
will  make  you  good  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ. 


1910 
HOLD   FAST 

Brethren  of  the  Graduating  Class  :  This  last 
day  of  your  seminary  course  suggests  to  me  the  last 
day  of  life.  The  scrutiny  to  which  your  work  has  been 
subjected  is  a  faint  image  of  the  final  judgment. 
These  rolls  of  approval  may  symbolize  the  awards  of 
the  Judge.  But  no  earthly  diploma  will  admit  you  to 
heaven.  "  Count  no  man  happy  till  he  dies,"  said 
Croesus.  Some  voyages  begin  fair,  but  end  in  dis- 
aster. The  runner  in  the  race  must  not  turn  aside 
until  the  goal  is  reached.  Even  Paul  would  not  cease 
to  struggle,  lest  having  preached  to  others  he  himself 
should  be  a  castaway.  I  give  you  two  words  of  the 
apostle  as  my  parting  legacy.  They  are  the  words, 
"  Hold  fast." 

Hold  fast  to  your  ministry.  A  call  to  the  ministry 
is  a  call  from  God.  Woe  be  to  the  man  who,  being 
thus  called,  preaches  not  the  gospel.  The  most  pitiful 
creatures  in  our  Christian  communities  are  those  men 
who  for  slight  and  unworthy  reasons  have  allowed 
themselves  to  demit  their  ministerial  work  and  to  enter 
some  purely  secular  calling.  I  do  not  mean  that  the 
ministry  necessarily  requires  a  man  to  be  preacher  and 
pastor.  A  teacher,  a  journalist,  a  superintendent  of 
missions,  may  be  a  true  minister  of  the  gospel.  I  am 
speaking  of  the  abandonment  of  the  religious  work  for 


47^  MISCELLANIES 

that  which  has  as  motive  one's  own  financial  or  social 
or  political  ambition.  Men  who  selfishly  abandon  the 
ministry  are  ever  after  miserable,  if  they  are  Chris- 
tians; and  they  become  hardened  sinners,  if  they  are 
not.  And  yet  the  temptations  to  such  abandonment 
are  not  few.  It  would  be  wonderful  if  they  did  not  at 
some  time  present  themselves  to  you.  The  ministry  is 
not  a  money-making  vocation.  Plain  living  and  high 
thinking  go  together  in  it  for  the  most  part.  The 
prominent  places  and  the  great  audiences  are  only  for 
the  few.  Human  nature  in  our  church-members  is  not 
free  from  fault,  nor  always  easy  to  deal  with.  The 
minister  must  endure  all  things  for  the  elects'  sakes, 
and  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  their  Lord.  And  he  must 
reenforce  public  appeals  to  the  impenitent  with  what  is 
harder :  the  private  and  reiterated  reminder  that  Christ 
requires  their  obedience  and  is  waiting  to  save  them. 
Be  faithful  in  your  work  as  evangelists,  and  you  will 
win  both  saints  and  sinners.  Success  in  the  winning  of 
souls  will  give  you  a  joy  that  will  more  than  make  up 
for  the  lack  of  money  or  fame,  and  will  make  all  the 
arguments  for  a  worldly  life  seem  vapid  and  incon- 
clusive. Having  then  a  great  High  Priest,  who  hath 
passed  through  the  heavens,  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God,  let 
us  hold  fast  our  confession. 

Hold  fast  to  your  faith.  The  only  way  to  be  true 
evangelists  is  to  be  truly  evangelical.  If  you  hold  the 
substance  of  the  truth,  you  will  be  apt  to  preach  it. 
After  having  studied  Christian  doctrine,  you  ought  to 
be  possessed  of  principles  which  you  cannot  surrender 
except  with  your  lives.  There  is  a  faith  once  for  all 
delivered  to  the  saints,  and  this  faith  has  been  handed 


HOLD    FAST  479 

down  to  you.  Christ  has  entrusted  to  you  a  steward- 
ship, and  for  that  stewardship  you  must  give  account. 
It  is  criminal  for  an  apothecary  to  falsify  a  prescrip- 
tion, for  life  or  death  may  depend  upon  the  giving  of 
the  proper  remedy.  It  is  criminal  for  the  preacher  to 
declare  any  other  gospel  than  that  of  Christ  and  him 
crucified.  And  yet  the  danger  of  making  this  mistake 
is  great.  It  is  easy  to  absorb  modern  skeptical  litera- 
ture and  to  neglect  the  Bible.  You  can  be  tossed  about 
by  every  wind  of  doctrine,  and  bring  only  perplexity 
and  doubt  into  the  minds  of  those  who  hear  you.  Un- 
less some  things  are  settled  in  your  own  minds  you  had 
better  never  preach  at  all.  How  absurd  it  is  to  wabble 
and  apologize  and  evade  when  Christ  is  the  same  yes- 
terday and  to-day  and  forever,  and  his  truth  endures 
to  all  generations!  I  urge  you  to  throw  doubt  to  the 
winds,  and  to  preach  a  positive  gospel.  When  Paul 
drew  near  to  his  dying  day  he  congratulated  himself 
that  he  had  kept  the  faith.  He  besought  Timothy  to 
hold  the  pattern  of  sound  words  which  he  had  heard 
from  his  apostolic  lips.  I  have  no  such  claim  upon 
you  as  the  inspired  apostle  had  upon  Timothy,  but  I 
can  rightly  bid  you  hold  unwaveringly  to  my  teachings, 
in  so  far  as  I  have  myself  followed  Christ. 

Hold  fast  to  your  integrity.  The  root  of  right 
preaching  and  of  right  believing,  after  all,  is  in  right 
living.  Dante  was  correct  when  he  made  the  sins  of 
the  intellect  to  be  the  result  of  sins  of  the  heart. 
Wrong  desires,  unregulated  appetites,  evil  affections, 
are  at  the  root  of  unbelief.  And  the  Christian  min- 
ister, from  his  very  sanctity  of  position,  is  exposed  to 
subtle  attacks  of  the  adversary.     If  Jesus  was  tempted 


480  MISCELLANIES 

immediately  after  the  descent  of  the  Spirit  upon  him 
at  his  baptism,  much  more  may  his  ministers  expect 
that  avarice,  ambition,  vanity,  and  even  sexual  pleas- 
ure, will  weave  a  delusive  web  around  them  which  noth- 
ing but  faith  in  God  will  enable  them  to  break.  In  my 
day  I  have  seen  more  than  one  minister  of  Christ  fall 
like  Lucifer  from  his  high  place,  and  do  more  harm 
to  Christ's  church  in  a  day  than  they  could  make  up 
for  by  long  lives  of  service.  But  in  every  such  case 
the  fall  was  sudden  only  to  the  world  that  was  looking 
on.  For  months  and  even  for  years  evil  had  been 
cherished  in  the  heart,  and  the  public  fall  was  only  the 
outcropping  and  revelation  of  secret  sin.  May  God 
preserve  you  all  from  the  dreadful  fate  of  apostate 
preachers  of  the  gospel.  But  the  evil  heart  is  within 
us  all.  Let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed 
lest  he  fall.  Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty. 
Minute  conscientiousness  in  little  things  is  needful  if 
we  are  to  be  masters  of  ourselves  in  the  great,  for  he 
that  is  faithful  in  a  very  little  is  faithful  also  in  much. 
I  have  been  urging  you  to  hold  fast  to  your  min- 
istry, to  your  faith,  to  your  integrity.  I  might  urge 
this  upon  the  ground  that  your  own  personal  salvation 
demands  it.  We  have  no  right  to  think  our  own  souls 
secure,  if  we  give  up  our  ministry,  deny  the  faith,  or 
sully  the  integrity  of  our  lives.  He  that  endureth  to 
the  end  shall  be  saved,  and  not  all  who  run  the  race 
receive  the  prize.  But  I  am  sure  that  a  motive  higher 
than  desire  for  your  own  personal  salvation  animates 
you  to-night.  The  thought  of  those  whom  you  are  to 
influence  weighs  upon  your  minds.  Your  ministry, 
your  faith,  your  integrity,  are  to  be  a  savor  of  life 


LEADERSHIP  48 1 

unto  life,  or  of  death  unto  death,  to  those  whom  you 
instruct.  You  are  set  for  the  rise,  and  for  the  fall,  of 
many  in  Israel.  But  you  have  the  promise  that  if  you 
hold  fast  to  Christ,  Christ  will  hold  fast  to  you.  Your 
ministry  will  lie  his  ministry.  He  himself  will  increase 
your  faith.  You  will  find  the  panoply  of  his  strength 
and  righteousness  about  you.  Continuing  in  these, 
you  shall  save  yourselves  and  those  who  hear  you. 

I  must  end  as  I  began,  by  reminding  you  of  that 
last  great  day  of  which  this  closing  day  of  your  course 
is  the  faint  symbol.  We  are  to  stand  before  the  judg- 
ment-seat of  Christ.  Then  our  faithfulness  or  un- 
faithfulness will  appear,  not  only  to  us.  but  to  the 
universe  of  God.  If  we  have  confessed  Christ  before 
men,  he  will  confess  us  before  his  Father  and  before 
the  holy  angels.  If  we  have  denied  him, he  will  deny  us. 
Let  us  look  unto  and  hasten  the  coming  of  the  day  of 
God,  for,  while  it  will  be  a  day  of  judgment  and  per- 
dition of  ungodly  men,  it  will  be  a  day  of  deliverance 
and  rejoicing  to  the  righteous.  We  may  not  all  meet 
again  on  earth,  but  we  shall  meet  then.  May  Christ 
our  Lord  grant  us  his  grace  that  that  day  may  find  us 
faithful  to  our  trust,  and  that,  having  been  partakers 
of  his  sufferings,  we  may  also  be  partakers  of  the 
glory  that  is  to  be  revealed ! 


19TI 

LEADERSHIP 

Brethren  of  the  Graduating  Class:  You  have 
come  to  the  end  of  your  preparatory  training  and  the 

2F 


482  MISCELLANIES 

most  of  you  will  immediately  enter  upon  the  work  of 
life.  Your  conceptions  of  that  work  differ  in  minor 
particulars,  but  I  believe  you  all  aim  to  serve  Christ 
in  the  ministry.  There  is  one  aspect  of  the  ministry 
which  is  often  ignored,  though  it  is  of  vast  importance 
— I  mean  its  aspect  of  leadership ;  and  it  is  "  Leader- 
ship "  of  which  I  would  speak  to  you  in  these  closing- 
words  to-night. 

The  Rochester  Theological  Seminary  cannot  train 
all  the  saints  of  God,  nor  all  the  ministers  of  the  Bap- 
tist denomination.  Its  proper  work  is  to  train  leaders 
of  thought  and  of  activity  for  the  churches,  men  who 
do  not  simply  fall  in  with  the  fashions  of  the  day  in 
doctrine  or  in  practice,  or  serve  as  tools  for  other  men 
to  manipulate,  but  who  take  Scripture  as  the  word  of 
God  and  teach  others  to  follow  it.  Not  original  leader- 
ship, as  if  the  preacher  and  pastor  were  himself  the 
authority,  but  leadership  as  Christ's  interpreters  and 
representatives,  with  the  aim  of  bringing  the  church 
and  the  world  in  subjection  to  him. 

I  do  not  need  to  tell  you  that  Christ's  own  ministry 
had  for  its  primary  aim  the  raising  up  of  leaders. 
After  its  first  year  had  been  spent  in  a  vain  appeal  to 
the  Jewish  rulers,  and  its  second  year  had  been  spent 
in  a  vain  appeal  to  the  Jewish  people,  its  third  and  last 
year  was  devoted  to  instructing  those  who  were  to  be 
his  apostles,  the  pillars  of  the  churches  who.  after 
Pentecost,  gathered  in  thousands  where  our  Lord  him- 
self had  converted  only  tens.  Even  Paul  trusted  not  so 
much  to  the  immediate  result  of  his  own  labors  as  he 
did  to  those  who  were  to  come  after  him.  and  so  he 
ordained   elders  in  every  church   and   committed  the 


LEADERSHIP  483 

truth  to  faithful  uien  who  should  he  ahle  to  teach 
others  also. 

The  world  is  depeudeut  on  leaders,  and  God  has 
provided  them  in  every  age.  Abraham,  Moses,  David, 
in  the  Old  Testament ;  Athanasius,  Augustine,  Anselm, 
Luther,  Wesley,  in  later  days,  show  what  instructed 
men  can  do  to  mold  the  thought  and  the  life  of  the 
world.  The  influence  of  these  men  has  come  down  to 
us,  and  they  are  our  examples.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
any  one  of  us  would  be  in  the  ministry  to-day,  if  it 
were  not  for  some  shining  instance  of  Christian  preach- 
ing and  consecration  which  roused  our  enthusiasm  and 
prompted  us  to  follow. 

John  R.  Mott  is  a  keen  observer,  and  he  calls  the 
need  of  leadership  the  chief  need  of  our  times.  We 
are  so  influenced  by  current  opinion  that  the  men  who 
can  stand  up  for  unpopular  truth  are  rare.  Yet  they 
are  the  men  who  have  the  future  in  their  vision,  and 
who  compel  their  contemporaries  to  press  toward  it. 
The  Christian  minister  is  a  prophet.  He  is  a  steward 
of  the  mysteries  of  God.  Things  that  are  secret  to  the 
world:  sin  and  salvation,  Christ  and  his  cross,  heaven 
and  hell,  have  been  opened  to  his  gaze.  It  is  required 
of  a  steward  that  he  be  found  faithful.  For  every  par- 
ticle of  the  truth  committed  to  him  he  must  give 
account.  He  has  freely  received,  only  that  he  may 
freely  give.  His  oflice  is  a  self-multiplying  one.  Every 
true  leader  hands  on  his  torch  to  his  successors,  and 
they  together  accomplish  more  than  he  alone  ever  could 

Since  this  kind  of  wheat  produces  some  thirty,  some 
sixty,  some  an  hundredfold,  it  is  of  great  concern, 
not  simply  that  there  should  be  much  seed,  but  that 


484  MISCELLANIES 

the  seed  sown  should  be  of  the  right  sort.  The  aix)stle 
exhorts  Timothy  to  "  keep  the  good  deposit,"  and  the 
"  deposit  "  is  the  faith  or  doctrine  dehvered  to  him. 
There  is  a  "  faith  once  for  all  delivered  to  the  saints." 
Our  right  of  leadership  continues  only  so  long  as  we 
can  point  to  the  oracles  of  God,  and  can  claim  that  our 
word  agrees  with  them.  When  we  can  buttress  up 
our  own  utterances  with  a  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  then 
we  need  fear  no  criticism  or  opposition.  True  leader- 
ship is  a  leadership  which  has  behind  it  the  word  and 
the  Spirit  of  God.  Then  the  undershepherd  can  refer  to 
the  chief  Shepherd  for  his  authority,  and  can  declare 
that  by  his  word  the  hearer  shall  be  judged  at  the  last 
day. 

There  are  four  things  which  I  would  urge  upon  you 
as  leaders  of  the  churches,  though  I*  can  merely  men- 
tion them.  The  first  is  that  you  are  bound  to  be  in 
advance  of  the  rank  and  file  of  your  members.  In 
knowledge  of  the  Bible,  in  thoughtful  application  of 
its  precepts,  in  prayerfulness  of  spirit,  you  are  to  be 
object-lessons  to  the  flock.  What  you  are  will  be  as 
persuasive  as  what  you  say.  You  are  expected  to  inter- 
pret Scripture,  and  your  own  belief  in  its  unity,  suffi- 
ciency, and  authority,  will  insensibly  communicate  itself 
to  those  whom  you  instruct.  You  need  yourselves, 
therefore,  to  be  taught  of  God.  Remember  that  the 
final  and  only  proof  of  inspiration  is  the  testimony  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  witnessing  within  us  that  the  Scrip- 
ture is  from  God,  and  so  turning  the  outer  word  into 
an  inner  word  that  moves  and  melts  the  heart. 

Secondly,  remember  that  your  leadership  is  not  des- 
potism.    You  are  not  to  lord  it  over  God's  heritage. 


LEADERSHIP  485 

but  to  secure  an  intelHg-ent  and  voluntary  following. 
You  may  well  consult  and  advise  with  your  older 
brethren  before  taking  your  final  stand  in  matters  of 
moment.  Tiiere  are  practical  applications  of  Chris- 
tianity in  which  their  experience  may  greatly  help  you. 
But,  after  all.  it  is  you  who  are  to  decide  what  your 
teaching  shall  be.  Collect  opinions  when  you  are  in 
doubt,  but  form  your  own  opinion  as  the  result.  That 
definite  view  of  yours,  though  it  may  not  immediately 
commend  itself  to  others,  will  be  a  center  around  which 
their  ideas  will  crystallize.  A  calm  and  able  leader  will 
have  followers. 

Thirdly,  while  you  are  thus  in  advance  of  your 
hearers,  be  bold  to  proclaim  your  faith.  You  are  not 
simply  private  individuals,  but  messengers  of  almighty 
God,  entrusted  with  his  truth,  and  commissioned  to 
utter  it,  whether  men  will  hear  or  forbear.  Learning 
alone  will  not  suffice.  What  you  know  you  must  utter 
with  conviction,  remembering  that  the  fate  of  men 
depends  upon  your  word,  and  that  their  blood  will  be 
required  at  your  hands.  Read  Baxter's  "  Reformed 
Pastor,"  and  be  stirred  with  the  sense  of  your  respon- 
sibility. You  need  the  spirit  of  true  propagandism,  the 
identification  of  yourself  with  those  whom  you  are  sent 
to  save,  the  determination  to  win  them  for  Christ  or  to 
die  in  the  attempt. 

And  lastly,  you  need  the  gentleness  as  well  as  the 
energy  which  God  alone  can  give.  Here  is  the  mistake 
of  some :  in  praying  for  power  they  forget  that  the 
only  power  is  love.  Law  alone,  with  all  its  thunders, 
will  not  subdue  the  sinner.  With  law  there  must  ap- 
pear the    forgiving  grace   of   God.   or  law   will   only 


486  MISCELLANIES 

liarden  and  condemn.  True  leadership  requires  self- 
surrender  before  it  asks  sin-render  from  others.  Be 
moved  yourself,  then  you  can  move  those  who  hear 
you.  You  can  either  rule  your  church,  or  you  can  have 
the  reputation  of  ruling;  hut  you  cannot  do  both.  To 
conquer  opposition  you  must  sink  self,  hide  behind  the 
Cross,  show  that  your  only  aim  is  the  honor  of  Christ 
and  the  saving  of  men's  souls. 

The  reward  of  such  leaders  is  not  always  immediate. 
Sometimes  the  truth  uttered  seems  lost  and  fruitless. 
But  like  seed  hidden  in  the  moist  earth  it  germinates 
after  a  time,  and  though  the  sower  may  not  do  the 
reaping,  he  that  sows  and  he  that  reaps  shall  at  last 
rejoice  together.  The  reward  may  not  come  at  once, 
but  it  is  sure.  God's  word  shall  not  return  to  him  void. 
What  Jesus  promised  to  his  apostles  he  promises  also 
to  all  the  faithful  leaders  of  his  people :  "  Ye  also  shall 
sit  upon  twelve  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel." 

It  is  right  to  desire  the  office  of  a  leader  in  the  king- 
dom of  God.  Because  we  are  persuaded  that  you  have 
been  called  by  God  to  this  high  office,  we  rejoice  in  your 
choice  of  the  ministry.  Our  confidence  in  you  has  been 
strengthened  by  every  successive  year  of  your  seminary 
course.  We  have  high  hopes  of  your  success  in  what- 
ever sphere  of  labor  is  appointed  for  you.  Iliough 
you  may  be  scattered  over  many  lands,  and  may  never 
meet  together  again  on  earth,  you  will,  by  one  omni- 
present Spirit,  have  access  to  the  Father,  and  Christ 
will  be  with  you  always,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world, 
for  in  him  all  his  scattered  followers  are  bound  to- 
gether.    May  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and  God 


THE    REWARDS    OF    THE    MINISTRY  487 

the  Holy  Ghost,  bless,  preserve,  and  keep  you,  make 
you  effective  leaders  of  God's  people  and  good  ministers 
of  Jesus  Christ! 


1912 

THE  REWARDS   OE   THE   MINISTRY 

Brethren  of  the  Graduating  Class:  One's  last 
words  ought  to  be  one's  best  words,  and  I  have  asked 
myself  how  I  could  most  usefully  employ  these  few 
moments  of  my  fortieth  annual  address.  One  passage 
of  Scripture  has  come  repeatedly  into  my  mind,  and  I 
make  that  the  theme  of  my  remarks :  "  Be  ye  stedfast, 
unmovable,  always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the 
Lord,  forasmuch  as  ye  know  that  your  labor  is  not 
vain  in  the  Lord."  The  exhortation  to  faithful  service 
is  accompanied  with  joyful  reminder  that  no  toil  under- 
gone for  Christ  is  ever  permitted  to  be  fruitless.  My 
three  years  of  intimate  acquaintance  with  you  enables 
me  to  take  for  granted  your  patient  continuance  in 
well-doing.  And  so  I  speak  to  you  to-night  only  of 
"  The  Rewards'  of  a  Eaithful  Ministry." 

Paul's  assurance  is  in  xkw  of  the  resurrection  and 
the  judgment.  The  great  final  day  has  been  looming 
up  before  him.  Only  then  will  the  full  meaning  of  an 
earthly  life  be  known.  Man's  verdict  is  of  little  ac- 
count. The  rewards  of  time  are  of  little  value.  But 
to  have  the  Judge  of  all  at  the  last  approve  our  work — 
that  will  be  reward  indeed.  Let  us  look  forward  to 
that  day,  and  ask  ourselves  what  reward  shall  be  ours 
if  we  are  true  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God,  and 


488  MISCELLANIES 

are  found  faithful  to  him  whu  has  called  us  to  be  his 
ministers. 

My  first  answer  is  that  we  shall  save  our  own  souls. 
That  is  not  the  highest  motive  to  faithfulness,  but  it 
is  one  of  the  motives  which  God  sets  before  us.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  he  has  called  some  of  us  into  the  min- 
istry partly  for  the  reason  that  that  calling  is  the  only 
one  which  could  divert  our  minds  from  sensual  grati- 
hcation  or  financial  gain  or  political  ambition,  and  so 
save  us  from  destruction  in  time  and  in  eternity.  If 
to  rescue  us  at  the  first  required  the  shedding  of  Christ's 
blood,  our  subsequent  preservation  has  required  all  the 
agencies  of  his  Providence  and  the  power  of  his  Spirit. 
Even  the  righteous  scarcely  are  saved;  and,  when  they 
stand  on  the  shore  of  the  sea  of  death  in  which  their 
enemies  are  finally  overthrown,  they  will  sing  a  song 
of  deliverance  more  heartfelt  than  that  of  the  children 
of  Israel  at  the  Red  Sea.  Our  own  eternal  salvation, 
in  spite  of  foes  without  and  of  treachery  within,  will 
itself  be  a  reward  worthy  of  all  our  striving. 

But  virtue  is  also  its  own  reward,  and  external  salva- 
tion \vould  be  of  little  value  if  unaccompanied  by  in- 
ward purity  and  peace.  In  this  life  no  one  of  us  can 
say  that  he  has  already  attained  or  is  already  perfect. 
We  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness,  but  are  not 
A^et  filled.  AVe  long  to  be  pure  in  heart,  but  we  do  not 
yet  see  God  as  do  the  holy  ones  before  his  throne.  We 
press  on  toward  the  goal,  unto  the  prize  of  the  high 
calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  the  apostle  inti- 
mates that  the  prize  is  the  complete  transformation  of 
body  and  soul  into  the  likeness  of  Christ.  "  wlio  shall 
fashion  anew  the  body  of  our  humiliation  that  it  may 


TIIR    REWARDS    OF    THE    MINISTRY  489 

be  conformed  to  the  body  of  his  glon,  according  to  the 
working-  whereby  he  is  able  even  to  subject  all  things 
unto  himself." 

The  saving  of  my  (nvn  soul,  even  when  this  includes 
likeness  to  Christ  in  body  and  in  spirit,  is  but  a  small 
part  of  the  true  minister's  reward.  Christ's  Spirit  has 
taught  him  that  he  that  saveth  his  life  shall  lose  it. 
The  very  essence  of  the  gospel  is  the  merging  of  our 
personal  interests  in  the  interests  of  others.  A  deep 
sense  of  the  value  of  men's  souls,  the  danger  to  which 
they  are  exposed,  their  dependence  on  us  for  warning 
and  direction,  lead  us  to  identify  ourselves  with  them, 
and  to  urge  upon  them  the  acceptance  of  Christ  as  their 
Saviour.  The  joy  of  the  Lord  into  which  the  minister 
of  Christ  enters  is  the  joy  of  rescuing  sinners,  of  hear- 
ing the  prodigal  say:  ''  Father,  I  have  sinned."  of  see- 
ing Satan  fall  from  heaven,  shorn  of  his  power  and 
overcome  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  And  as  the  faithful 
minister  shares  the  joy  of  heaven  over  one  sinner  that 
repents,  so  at  the  last  his  reward  will  largely  consist 
in  the  knowledge  that  some  who  would  otherwise  have 
dwelt  eternally  in  misery  are  now  kings  and  priests 
unto  God.  "  Here  am  I,  and  the  children  whom  thou 
hast  given  me,"  he  can  say  with  Christ,  and  can  find 
in  them  with  Paul  his  glory  and  his  crown. 

No  personal  attainment  and  no  work  for  others' 
good  could  constitute  reward,  unless  it  satisfied  the 
demands  of  our  moral  nature.  Paul  says  that  his  glory- 
ing is  this,  the  testimony  of  his  conscience  that  in 
holiness  and  sincerity  of  God  he  behaved  himself  in 
the  world.  That  we  have  done  right  when  there  was 
temptation   to   do   wrong,   that    we   have   resisted   the 


490  MISCELLANIES 

world,  tlie  flesh,  and  the  devil,  that  we  have  lived  for 
the  highest  ends,  that  we  have  fulfilled  the  divine  com- 
mission and  have  finished  the  work  God  gave  us  to  do 
— this  is  a  reward  indeed.  Shakespeare  understood 
human  nature  when  he  put  into  the  mouth  of  Cardinal 
Wolsey,  even  when  degraded  by  his  king,  the  words : 

1  know  myself  now ;  and  I  feel  within  nie 
A  peace  above  all  earthly  dignities, 
A  still  and  quiet  conscience. 

But  to  know  ourselves  perfectly  is  impossible  to  men, 
apart  from  God's  enlightenment.  Paul  will  not  trust 
his  own  judgment,  but  declares:  "I  say  the  truth  in 
Christ,  I  lie  not,  my  conscience  also  bearing  me  witness 
in  the  Holy  Ghost."  In  the  last  great  day  a  conscience 
that  approves,  because  it  reflects  the  judgment  of  the 
holy  God,  will  be  the  exceeding  great  reward  of  the 
faithful  minister. 

Yet  there  is  something  better  still ;  I  mean  the  per- 
sonal vision  and  welcome  and  fellowship  of  Christ. 
To  see  the  King  in  his  beauty,  to  hear  him  say, 
*'  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,"  and  when  we  see 
him,  to  be  like  him,  will  be  worth  all  the  sorrow  and 
trial  of  an  earthly  life.  The  light  affliction  which, 
after  all,  is  but  for  a  moment,  will  work  out  for  us  an 
eternal  weight  of  glory.  Having  been  faithful  over 
a    few   things   we   shall   be   made    rulers    over   many 

things, 

And  every  power  find  sweet  employ 
In  that  eternal  world  of  joy. 

Christ  himself  will  show  us  plainly  of  the  Father; 
what  we  know  not  now  of  earth's  problems  we  shall 


THE    REWARDS    OF    THE    MINISTRY  49I 

know  hereafter;  in  his  presence  there  shall  be  fulness 
of  joy,  and  at  his  right  hand  there  shall  be  pleasures 
for  evermore. 

If  this  were  a  Mohammedan  paradise  that  were 
offered  us,  we  might  well  doubt.  But  it  is  perfectly 
consistent  with  the  law  of  growth  and  evolution.  It 
will  be  only  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God,  the 
outshining  of  the  hidden  glory  which,  all  through  our 
earthly  life  and  work,  has  been  the  secret  of  success 
and  victory ;  tiie  mere  culmination  of  a  vision  of  Christ 
and  a  communion  with  Christ,  which  are  the  essence 
of  Christianity.  He  whom  not  having  seen  we  have 
loved  will  then  reward  us  with  the  full  revelation  of 
his  glory,  and  will  make  us  partakers  of  his  throne. 
Nothing  is  too  great  for  those  who  are  heirs  of  God 
and  joint  heirs  with  Christ,  l^r  all  things  are  ours, 
both  life  and  death,  and  things  present,  and  things  to 
come;  all  things  are  ours,  because  we  are  Christ's  and 
Christ  is  God's. 

Let  us  not  look  at  the  things  which  are  seen,  but  at 
those  which  are  unseen ;  for  the  things  that  are  seen 
are  temporal,  while  the  things  that  are  not  seen  are 
eternal.  For  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him,  Christ 
endured  the  cross,  despising  the  shame.  Let  us  follow 
him  in  the  Christian  race  and  ministry,  for  he  is  not 
only  the  author  but  also  the  i>erfecter  of  our  faith. 
He  who  himself  gained  the  prize,  and  is  now  set  down 
at  the  right  hand  of  God,  will  give  us  the  prize,  and 
will  seat  us  with  himself  upon  his  throne.  Eye  hath 
not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the 
heart  of  man,  the  things  which  God  has  prepared  for 
them  that  love  him. 


492  MISCELLANIES 

And  yet  there  is  a  larger  reward  in  the  triumph  of 
the  kingdom.  We  have  identified  ourselves  with 
Christ,  but  Christ  has  identified  himself  with  human- 
ity. He  will  not  be  satisfied,  nor  shall  we  be  satisfied 
until  the  whole  human  race  is  brought  back  to  God. 
When  complete  victory  has  perched  upon  Christ's  ban- 
ners and  the  soldiers  in  the  long  war  against  sin  come 
marching  home,  the  greatest  of  all  rewards  will  be  the 
assurance  that  our  little  service  has  been  made  an  indis- 
pensable factor  in  the  triumph  of  our  Lord,  and  that 
he  has  accepted  that  service  as  done  to  himself.  We 
shall  share  in  the  honors  of  that  day,  yet  shall  gladly 
confess  that  these  honors  are  all  of  grace  and  not  of 
debt,  and  that  all  the  praise  belongs  to  him  who  has 
wrought  in  us  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure. 
In  the  glory  of  Christ  and  the  triumph  of  his  king- 
dom we  shall  find  our  all-comprehending  and  eternal 
reward. 

I  shall  always  remember  this  class  with  peculiar 
interest  and  affection,  not  only  because  of  my  per- 
sonal relations  to  its  individual  members,  but  because 
in  it  I  see  the  last  set  of  recipients  of  my  instruction. 
I  must  be  judged  henceforth  more  by  what  I  have 
done  than  by  what  yet  remains  for  me  to  do.  I  am 
too  conscious  of  the  defects  of  my  work  to  have  any 
pride  in  it.  Yet  I  have  tried,  with  the  help  of  God, 
to  teach  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  to  train  men 
who  will  teach  others  also.  I  have  had  great  joy  in 
finding  you  receptive,  yet  at  the  same  time  inde- 
pendent. I  would  not  have  you  follow  me  in  all 
details,  but  only  in  the  broad  and  general  drift  of  my 
teaching.     The  letter  kills,  but  the   Spirit  gives  life. 


THE    RRWARFJS    OF    TIIF:    MINISTRY  493 

But  the  essentials  of  Christian  doctrine  I  would  have 
you  stand  by,  at  the  risk  of  Hfe  itself.  In  all  con- 
fidence that  you  will  do  this,  and  in  solemn  prospect 
of  that  day  when  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  shall  be 
revealed  and  you  and  I  alike  shall  be  judged  by  the 
standard  of  eternal  truth,  I  commend  you  to  God  and 
to  the  word  of  his  grace.  Upon  our  faithfulness 
everlasting  interests  depend,  both  for  ourselves  and 
for  others,  for  the  world  and  for  Christ's  cause. 
"  Wherefore,  my  beloved  brethren,  be  ye  stedfast,  un- 
movable,  always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord, 
forasmuch  as  ye  know  that  your  labor  is  not  vain 
in  the  Lord." 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Adams,    Seymour    \V.,    I:  loi,    loj. 
Ailtlress  of   Welcome,    Uaptist    W'orUl 

Alliance,    1 :  472-477. 
AiUhesses     to     Graduating     Classes, 

Rochester     Theological     Seminary, 

II:  4-20-493- 

Class  of   1900,  4-'o-427. 

Class  of   1901,   4J7-43J. 

Class  of   1902,  432  439. 

Class  of   1903.  439-44S- 

Class  of   1904,  445  451. 
.    Class  of   1905.   45i-45t>- 

Class  of   1906,  456-461. 

Class  of  1907,  461-468. 

Class  of  1908,  468-472. 

Class  of   1909.  47^-477- 

Class  of  1910,  477-481. 

Class  of  191 1,  481-487. 

Class  of  1912.  487-493- 
Aigues    Mortes,    France,    1:413-424. 
Amboise    Chateau,    1:387-389. 
Andrews,    Ezra    R.,    I:  162. 
Angels,    Schleiermacher    on,    II:  39. 
Aries,     France,     1:404-406. 
Atonement,     1:20-22,     it,     28,     237. 

238;   II:  43-46,   87-93.   95-99. 
Augustine,    II :  146. 
Authority:    tlefinition   of,    I:  210;    re- 
ligious authority  a   person,    I:  211; 

all,   belongs  to  Christ,    I:  211.   212. 
Authority    and    Purpose    of    Foreign 

Missions.     I:  210-219- 
.\vignon,    France,    1:406-410. 

r.ancroft.    regarding    Baptists,    1:66. 

liaptism,    Robinson    on.    II:  101-103. 

Baptist,  a  century  of  effort  in  New 
York  State,  1 :  74-97. 
Centennial  year,  74,  75;  work  of 
pioneers,  75.  Lake  Baptist  Mis- 
sionary Society,  76;  Hamilton 
Baptist  Missionary  Society,  77;  or- 


ganization of  present  society,  77; 
conditions  at  close  of  Revolution- 
ary war,  78;  hardships  of  first 
missionaries,  79;  churches  aided. 
80;  opposition  to  Baptists.  81; 
early  churches.  81.  82;  first  mis- 
sionaries, 83.  84;  abstracts  from 
their  reports,  8489;  sermon.  89- 
91;  our  indebtedness  to  their  faith 
and  devotion,  91-93;  the  future. 
94-96;  "  More  Beyond,"  96;  pres- 
ence  of   Christ,   96,   97. 

Baptist,  Denominational  growth,  I: 
1 66. 

Baptist  World  Alliance  Address  of 
Welcome,    I:  472-477. 

Baptists  and  Congregationalists,  I: 
198-201. 

Baptists,  their  duty  and  unity,  1:66, 
67- 

Baptists,    German,     I:  147-150. 

Baptists,  glorying  in  the  Cross,  I: 
468-470. 

Baptists:  growth  of,  in  the  United 
States,    I:  7-16. 

Educational  equipment  of,  8,  9: 
their  home  and  foreign  missions, 
9.  10;  West,  East,  and  South,  11 
14;  other  denominations  com 
pared  with.  14,  15;  material  re 
sources   of,    15. 

Baptists    in    France.    I:  373.    374- 

P.aptists    in    Rome,    1:437-440. 

Baptists    of    England,    1:3-7- 

Baptists  stand  for  a  spiritual  church, 
the  body  of  Christ,  regenerate 
church-membership  the  essential, 
organization  and  ordinances  in- 
cidental,   I:  1-3. 

Baptists,     present     doctrinal     attitude 
of,   I:  16-27. 
As   to   immanence   of   God,    17,    18; 

495 


496 


GENERAL    INDEX 


sin  and  depravity,  i8-:;o;  atone- 
ment, 20-22;  communion,  2^-2$; 
the    Scriptures,    25-27. 

Baptists:  outlook  of,  for  the  future, 
1:27-38. 

Following  Christ  implies  his  deity 
and  atonement,  27,  28;  no  salva- 
tion by  education,  28,  29;  orderly 
expression  of  truth  is  needed,  29, 
30;  greatest  need  is  to  be  a  wit- 
nessing church,  30;  interest  in 
poor  and  oppressed,  31,  32;  meas- 
ured by  gifts,  32,  33\  judgment  of 
denominations  in  this  world,  33, 
34;  faith  in  Christ's  second  com- 
ing. 34.  35:  opportunity  and  pos- 
sibilities,    35-38. 

Baptists,    Unity   of,   1:460-462. 

Beginnings,    Right,    11:427-432. 

Benedict,    N.     VV.,    I:  132. 

Bennett,    Alfred,    1:86-89,    131. 

Betteridge,  W.   R.,   I:  165,   166. 

I'.ible  as  a  Sociological  document, 
II:  126,    127. 

P.ible,    Robinson    on,    11:66-69. 

Blois  Chateau,    I:  384-387- 

I'.readth  in  the   Minister,   II :  445-451. 

Britain,    Christianity    in.    1:350-352. 

Britain,    Roman    Wall    in,    I:  335-3^1- 

Buckland,    R.    J.    W.,    I:  145,    146. 

Bunyan,  John,  "  Pilgrim's  Prog- 
ress,"   1:17. 

Caesar's   Commentaries,    I:  393-395- 

Carcassonne,    France,    I:  410-413. 

Character:  formed  and  influenced  by 
little  things,  11:233-239;  relation 
of,   to   will,   I:  138,    139. 

Chateaux  of  France,  The,  I:  362-391. 
Ocean  travel.  362,  363;  France 
since  1859.  363-370;  religious  re- 
vival in  Europe,  370-376;  the 
Chateaux,  376,  377;  St.  Georges, 
378,  379;  Loches.  379-382;  Lan- 
geais,  382-384:  Blois.  384,  385: 
other  Chateaux,  385-390;  return 
journey,   390,   391. 

Christ,    see    also    Jesus. 

Christ,  as  authority  and  purpose  of 
foreign  missions.   I:  210-219. 

Christ:  Confessing  Christ,  II:  208- 
309- 


Confession  of  the  heart  and  of 
the  lips,  298-300;  their  relation, 
300-302;  basis  of  duty  of  confes- 
sion, 302-305;  connection  between 
our  confession  and  denial  of 
Christ  and  his  confession  and 
denial  of  us,  305-307;  proof  of 
Christ's  immutability,  307-309;  con- 
clusion,  309. 

Christ,    The    Cross    of,    1:460-471. 

Christ,  Deity  of,  1:301-303;  11:85- 
87. 

Christ,  for  us  and  in  us,  essential 
to   all   education,    I:  191-194. 

Christ,  Greatness  and  Claims  of,  I: 
40-72. 

Effect  of  God  in  all  events,  40-42; 
Paul's  vision,  42-45;  need  of 
vision,  45-51;  the  whole  Christ  re- 
vealed, 51-53;  Christ  in  us  and 
for  us,  53-56;  Christ  demands 
recognition,  56-61;  demands  that 
we  make  him  known,  61-64;  'I's 
kingship,  6466;  claims  recogni- 
tion and  co-operation,  67;  second 
coming,  68;  will  convert  men, 
09;  vision  of  Christ.  70;  gift  of 
his  Spirit,  71,   72. 

e'hrist,  joined  to  Christ  through 
mind,   love,   and  will,    II:  150,    151. 

Christ,  No  other  Foundation  but, 
II:  439-445. 

Christ,  The  Omnipresent,  I:  304-312. 
The  omnipresent  Christ  in  sick- 
ness, 304,  305;  gratitude  for  past 
experiences,  306;  the  omnipresent 
Christ  in  relation  to  Scripture, 
306-308;   in  relation  to  the  church, 

308,  309;    in    relation    to    creation, 

309,  310;  the  greatness  of  Christ, 
310-312. 

Christ,  Relation  to  Foreign  Mis- 
sions,  I:  211-219. 

Christ,  Relation  to  Nature,  I:22o- 
238. 

Salutation.  220;  relation  of  Christ 
to  Nature  shown  in  Scripture, 
220,  221;  Gospel  of  John,  221- 
223;  its  theme,  223,  224;  miracle 
at  Cana,  224-226;  threefold  glory 
manifested,  226-228;  miracles  in 
general,      228-232:      guarantee      in 


GENERAL    INDEX 


497 


Christ  as  immanent  God,  232,  233; 
definition  of  miracle,  ,234,  235; 
different  aspects  of  Christ's  rela- 
tion to  Xature,  235,  236;  relation 
to  atonement,  236,  237;  conclu- 
sion,  237,   23S. 

Christ  the  remover  of  mountains,  II: 
149.    150. 

Christ,  work  of,  only  guarantee  of 
citizenship   in    heaven,    II:  172-174. 

Christ's  Moral  System,  11:204-218. 
Christian  and  heathen  morality, 
204-208;  Christian  morality  not 
all-comprehensive,  208-210;  limited 
in  specific  directions,  as  to  con- 
duct, 210,  211 ;  attacks  upon 
Christian  morality  due  to  igno- 
rance, 21 1-2 14;  the  central  thought 
of  love  and  the  relation  between 
Christian  morality  and  religion, 
215-218. 

Christ's  Second  Coming,  I:  34.  35, 
68. 

Christian's  Resources,  The,  11:392- 
401. 

"  Christian  Faith  "  of  Schleier- 
macher,  II:  27. 

Christian  progress  depending  on  lit- 
tle  things,    II:  239-243. 

Christianity     in     Britain,     1:350-352. 

Church:  as  pillar  and  ground  of 
truth,  I:  108,  109;  as  body  of 
Christ,    1 :  109-1 12. 

Church,  because  supernatural,  will 
abide,    I:  11 1. 

Church,  The  Transcendent  Element 
in  the,  I:  197-209. 
Introduction,  197,  19S;  Baptists 
and  Congregationalists,  198-201; 
the  Church,  spiritual  and  scrip- 
tural, 201,  202;  transcendent  ele- 
ment is  Christ,  202,  203;  Pilgrim 
conception  of  the  church.  203. 
204;  congregational  leadership. 
204;  missions.  205:  polity,  206, 
207;  is  ideal  only  with  transcen- 
dent Christ,  208.   209. 

Citizenship    in    Heaven.    II:  159-174. 

Cleveland,  Ohio.  First  Baptist 
Church,  seventy-fifth  anniversary 
sermon,    I:  98-1 12. 

Coats,  A.   S.   I:  164. 

2G 


Cole,  Austin  H.,  I:  162. 

Communion,   1:22-25. 

Conant,    Thomas    J.,    I:  140. 

Confessing   Christ,    11:298-309. 

Congregational  growth  in  the  United 
States,    1:14. 

Congregationalists,     1:204-209. 

Congregationalists  and  Baptists,  1: 
198-201. 

Conscience  as  evidence  and  prepav.-i- 
tion  for  final  judgment,  II:  413416. 

Conscience  as  related  to  Tlnlele^s• 
ness  in  Man  and  in  God,  1:321, 
322. 

Cross  of  Christ,  The,  1:460-471. 
Unity  of  Baptists,  460-462;  con- 
fession of  sin,  462;  holiness  and 
love  of  God,  463;  the  Cross  God's 
judgment  upon  sin,  464,  465;  as 
suffering  for  sin,  465,  466;  as 
saving  from  sin,  467,  468;  Bap- 
tists as  glorying  in  the  Cross, 
468-470;  concluding  remarks  as 
this  was  final  public  address,  470, 
471- 

Degeneration,    II:  110-128. 

Evolution,  110-112;  savagery,  112- 
115;  in  history,  115.  116;  as  a 
sociological  fact,  116-119;  origin- 
ally savage  condition  of  mankind 
untenable,  119,  120;  barbarous 
customs  as  marks  of  broken-down 
civilization,  120-123;  arguments 
from  marriage  and  promiscuity. 
123-125;  the  Bible  as  a  sociological 
document,  126,  127;  conclusion. 
127,    128. 

Deity  of  Christ,  1:301-30.3;  11:85- 
87. 

Denominational    Outlook.    I:  i  39. 
The    Past.    3-16;    the    Present,    16- 
27;   the   Outlook,   27-38. 

Disciple  growth  in  the  United  States. 
I:  14,    29. 

Doctrine,  need  of,  in  modern  semi- 
nary,   I:  285,   286. 

Education  and  Optimism.  I:  172-196. 
Salutation.  172;  thesis.  173;  edu- 
cation develops  sense  of  imli- 
viduality,    174-177;    sense    of    com- 


498 


GENERAL    INDEX 


munity,  177-182;  sense  of  divinity, 
182-188;  only  Christian  educa- 
tion guarantees  optimism,  189, 
190;  not  pantheistic,  190,  191;  no 
education  complete  without  Christ 
for  us,  1 91-193;  without  Christ  in 
us,    193,    194;    conclusion,    194-196. 

Education  and  Religion,  I:  J70-277. 
Vassar  College,  270,  271;  educa- 
tion grounded  in  religion,  271; 
nourished  in  religion,  2T2\  com- 
pleted in  religion,  272-274;  col- 
lege chapel  services,  274,  275;  the 
need  of  Christian  colleges,  275-277. 

Education  and   war,   1:265,   266. 

Education,  The  Old  and  the  New, 
I:  239-250. 

Higher  education  of  women,  239, 
240;  Granger  Place  School,  240- 
242;  public  and  private  schools 
of  the  past,  242-245;  contrasts  be- 
tween old  and  new  education,  245; 
concentration  and  breadth,  245, 
246;    preparation    and    application, 

246,  247;    intellect    and    character, 

247,  248;    the   power   of   attention, 

248,  249;    conclusion,    249,    250. 
Enrichment    from    Yesterdays,    1:  98- 

112. 

Psalm  44,  1:98,  99;  First  Bap- 
tist Church,  100;  "Historical 
Sketch,"  100,  loi;  Doctor 
Strong's  pastorate,  loi,  102;  dea- 
cons, 102-104;  other  members,  104- 
107;  church  relations,  105; 
growth,  106;  characteristics  of  last 
generation,  107;  church  the  pil- 
lar and  ground  of  truth,  loS;  the 
body  of  Christ,  109;  needs  educa- 
tion,   no;   will  abide,    iii,    112. 

Episcopal  growth  in  the  United 
States,   I:     14,  29. 

Europe,  Religious  Revival  in,  I: 
370-376. 

Evolution,    1:290,    291;     IE:  110-112. 

Faith,    1:286,    287;     11:99-101,    144- 

146,     151-154.    227-230. 
Faith,    as    removing    mountains.     II: 

144-146. 
Faith,   need  of,   in  modern  seminary, 

I:  276-287. 


I'ear    in    Religion,    11:175-189. 

Fear  as  a  rational  and  salutary 
emotion,  175-179;  fear  in  religion 
due  to  possibility  of  sin,  179- 
184;  use  of  fear  as  a  preparatory 
discipline,  184-188;  conclusion, 
18S,    189. 

Foreign    Missions,    1:210-219. 

Foundation,  i\o  other,  but  Christ, 
H:  439-  +  45- 

France,  The  Ch.iie:ui.\  of,  1:362- 
391. 

France,  Glimpses  of  Soutlieastern, 
I:  392-4.^4- 

A  tour  of  France,  392,  393;  Ro- 
man remains,  393-395;  Lyons,  395- 
398;  Orange,  398-400;  Nimes,  400- 
404;  Aries,  404-406;  Avignon,  406- 
410;  Carcassonne,  410-413;  Aigues- 
Mortes,    413-424. 

Freeman,    Zenas,    I:  136,    137. 

Fuller,  Andrew,  on  connections  of 
doctrine,    1 :  45. 

Genealogy  of  Jesus,   11:277-297. 

German     Baptists,    I:  147-150. 

God,  Method  of  Creation,  11:433- 
439. 

God,  Robinson's  idea  of,  11:65,  66, 
69-71. 

God,  The  Suffering  and  the  Blessed, 
II:  340-358. 

The  contrast  of  joy  and  sorrow, 
340,  341;  God  suffers,  341-345;  •"- 
finitely,  345-349;  this  suffering  the 
condition  of  joy,  349352;  frees  us 
from  dogmatic  doubt,  353-356; 
from   ethical   error,   356-358. 

G<id,  true  philosophical  conception 
of,   I:  401. 

God's  faithfulness,  power,  order, 
testimony,  shown  in  genealogy  of 
Jesus,    II :  290-297. 

God's    Providence,     11:330-333. 

Grace.  Prevenient,  II:  3-8-339. 
The  meaning  of  "  Grace  "  and 
"prevent,"  328,  329;  God's  going 
before  in  nature  and  in  redemp- 
tion, 329,  330;  in  Providence,  con- 
version, and  Christian  experience, 
330-333;  in  prayer  and  Christian 
work,    333-336;    in    the    sorrowful 


AL    IXDEX 


499 


tilings  of  lite,  336-338;  conclusion, 
i3>i,   339. 

Graduating  Classes,  Rochester  The- 
ological Seinmary,  Addresses  to, 
II:  420-493. 

Granger  J'iace  Sciioi'l,  Final  Com- 
mencement   Address,    I:^39J5o. 

Grief,  human,  causes  wcciiing  of 
Jesus,    II:  313-318. 

Gubelniann,   J.    S..    1:  163. 

Guizot,  on  Providence.    1:41. 

Ilackctt,  Horatio  15.,  I:  146,   147. 

Hague    Congress,    I:  ^68. 

Ilaiiiilton  Baptist  Missionary  So- 
ciety, I:  77. 

Hamilton  Theological  Seminary,  I: 
117-120,    122-128. 

Healing,   physical,   I:  133-135. 

Heaven,  Citizenship  in,  11:159-174. 
Roman  citizenship,  159,  160;  citi- 
zenship in  heaven  implies  that 
there  is  a  king.  160,  161;  a  law 
and  allegiance,  161,  162;  a  holy 
society,  162,  163;  heaven  a  state, 
164-166;  present  as  well  as  future, 
166-169;  citizenship  in  heaven  in- 
volves rights  and  duties,  169-172; 
the  work  of  Christ  the  only  guar- 
antee of  citizenship,    172-174. 

Hell,   II:  180-183. 

Help  of  the  Spirit  in  Prayer,  The, 
H:  3---39i. 

Historical  Discourse,  Rochester  The- 
ological   Seminary,    I:  1131  71. 

Hold  Fast,  to  ministry,  to  faith,  to 
integrity,    II:  477-481. 

Holy  Spirit,  The  Help  of,  in 
Prayer,  II:  377-391- 

Holy  Spirit,  reception  of,  I:  132.   133. 

Hotchkiss.    X'clona   R.,   I:  143.    t44- 

Hoyt,  James   M.,   I:  104-106. 

Huguenots,    The,    1:415-424. 

Immortality,  11:46-53.  103-107;  139- 
141.      See    also    Heaven. 

James,  William.   1:483,   490. 
Jeanne  d'.\rc,   1:363,  378. 
Jesus,   Genealogy   of,    11:277-297. 

The    Desert    of    Sahara,    277.    278; 

the    supposedly    desert    portions    of 


Scripture,  278-280;  the  fondness 
for  genealogies,  280-284;  t'"-' 
genealogies  of  Jesus  as  a  family 
record,  284,  285;  transcribed  from 
public  registers,  285,  286;  a  regis- 
ter of  the  royal  succession,  286- 
288;  a  connection  between  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  289, 
290;  as  indicating  God's  faithful- 
ness, 290,  291;  God's  power,  291- 
293;  God's  order,  293-295;  God's 
testimony,    295-297. 

Jesus,  The  Tears  of,  11:310-327. 
The  weeping  of  Jesus  remarkable, 
310-312;  its  cause,  312;  tears  of 
sympathy  with  human  grief,  313- 
318;  tears  of  sorrow  for  human 
sill,  319-324;  the  comfort  in  the 
tears  of  Jesus,  325;  the  lesson, 
3-'/. 

Joy    of   the    Lord,    The.    11:468-472. 

Judgment,  as  related  to  Timeless- 
ness  in  Man  and  in  God,  1:317, 
318. 

Judgment,  Evidences  and  Prepara- 
tion   for    Final.    II:  405-419. 

Justice,  The  element  of,  in  War, 
I:  261-269. 

Kaiser,  Lewis,   I:  166. 

Kant,    II:  14-17. 

Kendrick,      Nathaniel,     1:89-91. 

Kipling,     Rudyard.     1:335-337- 

Knowledge,     Obedience     before,     II: 

261-276. 
Knowledge    of    self,     1:485-487. 

Lake    Baptist    Missionary    Society,    I: 

76. 
Langeais  Chateau,   I:  382-384. 
Lathrop,    Edward.    I:  130. 
Leadership,    II:  481-487. 
Little    Things,    11:233-247. 
Loches    Chateau,    1:379-382. 
Locke,    John,    regarding    Baptists,    I: 

65,  66. 
Lord,  The  Joy  of  the,  11:468-472. 
Loyalty,   II:  420-427. 
Lyons,    France,    1:395-398. 

MacArthur,    R.    S..    I:  313. 
Madison   L'nivcrsity,  I:  118-127. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Maginnis,  John   S.,   I:  139,   140. 

Man,  a  Living  Soul,  1:478-493. 
Philosophy  and  religion,  478,  479; 
the  fact  of  self-consciousness,  480- 
482;  will  and  freedom,  482-485; 
knowledge  of  self  implicit,  485- 
487;  change  in  conception  of  na- 
ture, 487-491;  ill  conception  of 
God,   491-493. 

JNIan,  needs  of,  great  supply,  method 
of   supply,    II:  393-401. 

JMcCormick  Theological  Seminary, 
I:  288. 

Memory  as  evidence  and  preparation 
for  final  judgment,   11:  405-409. 

Memory  as  related  to  Timelessness 
in   Man  and  in  God,   1:  317. 

Methodists,  pioneers,  1:5;  growth 
in  the   United   States,    1:  14. 

Mind,   Singleness  of,    11:461-468. 

Minister,  Breadth  in  the,  II:  445- 
451- 

Ministry  and   Prayer,    11:456-461. 

Ministry,  The  Rewards  of,  11:487- 
493- 

Miracles:  at  Cana,  I:  224-226;  in 
general,  I:  228-232;  guarantee  in 
Christ  as  immanent  God,  1:232- 
234;  definition,  1:  234,  235;  Robin- 
son on,    11:  74-77. 

Missions,  Authority  and  Purpose  of 
Foreign,  1:  210-219. 
Authority,  210;  religious  authority 
a  person,  211;  alt  authority  belongs 
to  Christ,  211,  212;  foreign  mis- 
sions, 212;  authority  in  Christ's 
character,  work,  life,  love,  213- 
216;  purpose  of  foreign  missions 
is  Christ,   216-219. 

Mont  St.  Michel  in  France,  1: 
374-376. 

Moral  Impulses  as  related  to  Time- 
lessness in  Man  and  in  God,  1 : 
319-3-1. 

Moral   System  of  Christ,   11:204-218. 

More  to  Follow,  11:  432-439. 

Moravians,    II:  7-10. 

Morgan,   Lewis  H.,   II:ii2-ii5,    124. 

Mountains.   Removing,    11:142-158. 
Raphael's    "  Transfiguration,''    142- 
144;     the     removal     of     mountains 
through   faith,    144-146;   mountains 


of  sin  in  ourselves,  146;  of  unbe- 
lief in  the  church,  147,  148;  of 
opposition  in  the  world,  148,  149; 
Christ  the  remover  of  mountains, 
149,  150;  joined  to  Christ  through 
mind,  love,  and  will,  150,  151; 
mountains  removed  through  faith, 
151-154;    conclusion,     154-158. 

Nature,  Christ's  relation  to,  I:22o- 
238. 

Nature,  conception  of.   I:  487-491. 

New  York  State,  A  century  of  Bap- 
tist Effort,  1:  74-97. 

Newman,   A.   H.,    1:  164. 

Newton  Theological  Institution,  I: 
278,   279. 

Nimcs,    France,    1:400-404. 

Northrup,  George  VV.,  1:  144,   145. 

Obedience  before  Knowledge,  II: 
261-276. 

The  necessity  of  obedience,  261; 
in  relation  to  willingness  to  learn, 
262,  263;  to  insight  into  religious 
truth,  263-267;  to  recognizing 
truth  as  personal,  268-270;  to 
securing  tlie  teaching  of  this 
person  who  is  the  truth,  270275; 
conclusion,   275,    276. 

Open    \'ision.    II:  248-260. 

Opposition  in  the  world.  II:  148, 
149. 

Orange,    France.    1:398-400. 

Osgood,   Howard,   I:  164. 

Paine.   Cyrus  F.,   I:     162,    163. 

Pantheism,  Schleiermacher's.  11:32- 
39. 

Past,  That  Which  is,  11:402-419. 
The  last  Sunday  of  the  year,  402- 
405;  the  evidences  and  prepara- 
tion for  final  judgment  as  revealed 
in  the  fact  of  memory.  405-409: 
in  the  influence  of  thought  and  act 
upon  character.  409-413;  in  the 
nature  of  conscience,  413  417;  con- 
clusion,  417-419. 

Paul,  as  experiencing  the  resources 
of  the  Christian,  II:  392-401. 

Paul.    1:42-53. 

His   conversion.    42-45;    learned    of 


GENERAL    INDEX 


501 


a  living  Jesus,  46,  47;  an  cxallcd 
humanity,  47;  the  man  from 
heaven,  48;  made  sin  for  us,  48, 
49;  our  righteousness,  50;  the 
manifested  God,  50,  51;  who  died 
for  all,  51;  the  preexistent  Christ, 
52;  Christ's  victory,  53. 

Taul  and  Roman  Citizenship,  II:  159, 
160. 

Paul's  Thorn  in  the  Flesh,  II:  190- 
203. 

Peck,   John.    I:  8486. 

Peilingill,  James  O.,  I:  162. 

Philosophy  and  Religion,  I:  478,  479. 

"Pilgrim's   Progress,"    I:  17. 

Prayer,  1:38,  72,  7Z;  11:130132, 
333-336. 

Prayer  and  Ministry,  11:456-461. 

Prayer,  at  conclusion  of  address  on 
Greatness  and  Claims  of  Christ, 
I:  72,    73. 

Prayer,  at  conclusion  of  address  on 
Denominational  Outlook,  1 :  38.  39. 

Prayer,  The  Help  of  the  Spirit  in, 
II:  377-391. 

The  seventh  chapter  of  Romans, 
377-379;  the  help  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  prayer,  379383:  the 
manner  of  this  help,  383-386; 
practical  value  of  this  theme,  386- 
391. 

Prayer,   nature  of  true,   II:  379-383- 

Presbyterian  growth  in  the  United 
States,   I:  14. 

Present    Values,    11:219-232. 

Prevenient   Grace,   11:328-339. 

Prophets,  Schools  of  the,  1:278-287. 
Newton  Theological  Institution. 
278,  279;  Israel's  schools  of  the 
Prophets,  279-281;  Christ's  school 
of  the  Prophets,  281-283:  the 
modern  seminary,  283-285;  the 
need  of  doctrine,  285.  286;  the 
need  of  faith,   286.   287. 

Psalm    44,    I:  98,    99. 

Psalm    n8,    II:  219. 

Puritans,    1 :  4. 

Ramaker,    A.    J..    I:  166. 
Raphael's   "Transfiguration."   II- 

142-144. 
Rauschcnbusch,   August.   I:  148,    149. 


Rauschcnhuscli,    Waller.    I:  166. 

Kawson,    George    \V.,    I:  162. 

Religion    and    Kducation,    1:270-277. 

Religion  and  Philosophy,  1:478,  479. 

Religion,  as  ground,  nourishment, 
and  completion  of  all  education, 
1:27.-274. 

Religion,   Fear  in,   II:  175-189. 

Religion,  The  Use  of  the  Will  in, 
II :  129-141. 

Religious  Revival  in  Europe,  1 :  370- 
376. 

Removing    Mountains.    11:142-158. 

Resources,  The  Christian's,  11:392- 
401. 

The  resources  expressed  in  the 
words  "  My  God,"  392,  393; 
man's  great  need,  393-396;  the 
great  supply,  396-399;  the  method 
of  the   supply,   399-401. 

Rewards  of  the  Ministry,  Tiie,  II: 
487-493. 

Riches,    Unsearchable,    11:472-477. 

Robins,   Henry   E.,    I:  165. 

Robinson,    Ezekiel    G.,   I:  140-143. 

Robinson,  Ezekiel  G.,  Theology  of, 
II:  58-109. 

-An  appreciation  of  Robinson,  58, 
59;  his  training,  59.  60;  his  work 
as  teacher,  60-63;  his  influence,  63- 
65;  his  idea  of  God,  65,  66;  of 
the  Bible,  66-69;  of  attributes  of 
God.  69-71:  holiness,  71-73;  crea- 
tion, 73,  74;  natural  and  super- 
natural miracles,  74-77;  his  an- 
thropology. 78-80;  sin,  80-85;  deity 
of  Christ,  85-87;  atonement,  87- 
93;  Trinity,  93-95;  atonement  in 
relation  to  man.  95-99:  faith,  99- 
loi;  baptism  and  the  church,  loi- 
103;  immortality,  103-107;  con- 
clusion,   107-109. 

Rochester  Theological  Seminary,  Ad- 
dresses to  Graduating  Classes, 
1900-1912,    inclusive.    11:420-493. 

Rochester  Theological  Seminary,  His- 
torical Discourse.  1:113-171. 
Origin  of  theological  institutions, 
113;  New  Brunswick,  114;  Ando- 
ver.  114,  115;  Harvard,  115,  116; 
Baptists  at  Brown.  116;  at  New- 
ton,   117;    at    Hamilton.    117,    118; 


^02 


GENERAL    INDEX 


agitation  for  removal  to  l^uches- 
ter,  1 1 8,  119;  subscriptions,  uo, 
iji;  nKii  interested,  i2j;  legal 
argument,  123;  removal  act,  124; 
opposition,  125-127;  founding  of 
University  of  Rochester  and  of 
Rochester  Theological  Seminary, 
128,  129;  founders  and  early 
trustees,  129-137;  opening  sessions, 
137.  138;  early  graduates,  138, 
139;  early  faculty  members,  139- 
147:  German  Baptisis,  147  150; 
endowment,  150-153;  donors.  153- 
157;  early  location,  157-159;  cur- 
riculum, 159-161;  trustees,  161- 
163;  graduate  study,  163;  faculty, 
164-166;  graduates,  167;  theology, 
168;  conclusion,  169-171. 
Rochester  University,  I:  128. 
Rockefeller,  John  D.,  I:  155. 
Roman  Wall  in  Britain,  The,  I: 
335-361- 

The  interest  in  history,  335-337', 
purpose  of  the  Roman  wall,  337. 
338;  its  building,  338,  339;  de- 
scription, 339-343;  as  a  source  of 
weakness.  343-345;  interesting  re- 
mains, 345-349;  absence  of  Chris- 
tian remains,  349,  350;  Christian- 
ity in  Britain,  350-352;  Kipling's 
description  of  the  wall,  352-355; 
a  visit  to  the  wall,  355-357:  the 
influence  of  Rome  on  Britain, 
357-361. 
Roman    remains    in    France,     1:393- 

395- 
Rome,   Old  and   New,   1:425-459. 
.\  tour  of  Italy  in   1859,  425,   426; 
Rome     of     1859     contrasted     with 
Rome    of    to-day,    politically,    426- 
429;      geographically,      429.      430; 
economically.    430-432;    religiously, 
432-442;   in  realm  of  art,  442-444; 
monuments     and     ruins,     444-454: 
earthquakes,     454-458;     conclusion, 
459. 
Rouse.    Benjamin.    I:  102.    103. 

Sage,     Oren.     I:  133.     134. 
Salvation,  depending  on  little  things, 

II:  243-247. 
Satan,    II :  195-200. 


Savagery,     as     related     to     evolution 
and    degeneration,    II:ii2-ii5. 

Schaffer,   Hermann    M.,   I:  149. 

Schleiermacher,     The     Theology     of, 
II:  1-57. 

The  greatness  of  Schleiermacher, 
1-4;  his  early  years,  5-7;  the  Mora- 
vians, 7-10;  at  Halle,  10-13;  in- 
fluence of  Spinoza  and  Kant  on 
his  theology,  13-19;  later  years, 
19-27;  his  work  "The  Christian 
Faith,"  27;  his  conception  of  re- 
ligion, 27-29;  natural  and  super- 
natural, 29-31;  his  pantheism,  32- 
39;  angels,  39;  sin,  39-4-2;  con- 
ception of  Christ,  42,  43;  atone- 
ment, 43-46:  the  church,  eschatol- 
ogy  and  immortality,  46-53;  his 
death,   54,   55;   conclusion,   55-57. 

Schools   of    the   Prophets,    1 :  278-287. 

Seminary    Outlook,    1:288-303. 

jMcCormick  Theological  Seminary, 
288;  the  modern  age,  289,  290; 
mistaken  idea  of  evolution,  290, 
291;  bad  metaphysics,  291-293; 
bad  ethics,  293-296;  bad  theology, 
296-301;  the  deity  of  Christ,  301- 
303. 

Silvernail,   J.    P.,   I:  165. 

Sin,    I:  18-20;    II:  39-42,    80-85,    179- 
184,    3i9-3-'4. 

Sin,  and  war,  1 :  263. 

Sin.  as  related  to  fear  in  religion,  I: 
179-184. 

Sin.    causes    weeping    of    Jesus,    II: 
3i9-3-'4- 

Sin    in    ourselves,    II:  146. 

Sin,     Unconsciousness     of,     II:  359- 
376: 
The    consciousness     of    sinfulness. 

359.  360;  unconsciousness  of  sin 
in     men     not     professing     religion. 

360.  361;  reasons:  power  of  sin 
cannot  be  estimated  until  opposed. 
362-364;  sin  not  yet  developed  in 
its  most  startling  forms,  364-367; 
God's  judgment  of  sin  not  yet 
made  manifest.  367-370;  sin's 
blinding  influence  upon  the  mind. 
370-373;  concluding  remarks.  373- 
376. 

Singleness    of    Mind,     II:  461-468. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


503 


Smith,  William  T..  I:  102,  103. 
Spinoza,  11:  13,  14- 
St.  Georges  Chateau,  1:377-379- 
Stevens,  William  Arnold,  I:  165. 
Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher,  1:431- 
Strong  Alvah,    1:  134136. 

Taylor,  E.   E.,   I:  132,   i33- 

Tears.  The  Tears  of  Jesus,  II:  310- 
3-'7- 

Testanlen^s,  Old  and  New,  connected 
by  genealogy  of  Jesus,  1I:j89, 
290. 

Theology  and  Literature,  I:25i-.;6o. 
Introduction,  251-253;  theology 
and  literature  related,  253255; 
poetry,  255-258;  fiction,  258,  259; 
greatness   of   Christ,   259,   260. 

Theology  of  Ezekiel  G.  Robinson, 
II:  58-109. 

Theology  of  Schleiermacher,  II:  1-57. 

Things,   Little,    11:233-247. 

Little  things  as  signs  of  charac- 
ter, 233-235;  as  influencing  the 
formation  of  character,  235-239; 
faithfulness  in  little  things  evi- 
dence of  Christian  progress,  239- 
243;  salvation  depending  on  little 
things,    243-247. 

Timelessness  in  Man  and  in  God, 
I:  3I3-334- 

The  ministry  of  R.  S.  Mac.\rthur, 
313,  314;  eternity  in  the  heart 
of  man,  314;  meaning  of  heart 
and  eternity,  314-316;  mental 
processes,  316-318;  moral  impulses, 
319322;  acts  of  will,  322324; 
timelessness  in  relation  to  physi- 
cal science  and  philosophy,  324- 
327;  theological  lessons  from  the 
subject,  327-329;  practical  lessons, 
3-'9-334;    conclusion,    334. 

Thorn  in  the  Flesh,  Paul's.  II:  190- 
203. 

Paul's  life  one  of  contrasts,  190, 
191;  the  nature  of  his  thorn  in 
the  flesh,  191-193;  its  origin,  193- 
195:  the  agency  of  Satan,  195- 
197;  how  explain  God's  permis- 
sion, 197-200;  necessary  for  per- 
fection of  Christian  cliaracter,  2ui, 
202;   conclusion,  202,  203. 


Tolstoy,  Count  Leo,  I:  263. 
Transcendent  Element  in  the  Church, 

The,    I:  197-209. 
Trevor,   John    B.,    I:  1 53- 155- 
Trinity,    Robinson    on,    ll:93-95- 
True,   Benjamin   O.,    I:  163,    165. 
Truth,    insigiit    into    religious    truth, 
11:263-267;   truth  as  personal,   II: 
268-270;   securing   teaching   of  per- 
son   wlio   is   the   truth,    11:270-275. 

Unbelief  in  the  church,   II:  147,   148. 
Unconsciousness  of   Sin,   11:359-376. 
University   of    Rochester,    I:  128. 
Unsearchable    Riches,    11:472-477. 

N'alues,     Present,     11:219-232. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Eighteenth 
Psalm,  219-221;  present  values  as 
related  to  attributes  of  God.  221- 
223;  to  God's  method  of  evolution, 
223-225;  to  the  promises  of  Christ, 
225-227;  to  Christian  faith.  227- 
230;  the  value  of  the  present, 
230-232. 

X'assar    College,    1:270,    271. 

X'ision,    Open,    11:248-260. 

Man's  need  of  open  vision,  248- 
250;  man's  peculiar  need,  250,  251; 
open  vision  granted  to  a  few,  251, 
253;  brings  a  responsibility,  253- 
255;  effect  on  a  man's  message, 
255-257;  open  vision  to-day,  257- 
259;    conclusion,    259,    260. 

Wagner,    Charles.    I:  372,    373. 

Waldenses,   The,    1 :  434-437- 

War,  American  Revolutionary,  1 :  78. 

War,    The    Element    of    Justice    in, 
I:  261-269. 

Peace  upon  basis  of  justice,  261; 
self-preservation  and  altruism,  261- 
263;  Tolstoy's  views,  263;  war 
and  sin,  263,  264;  war  and  jus- 
tice.  264,   265;   war  and  education. 

265,  266;    war    as    a    moral    evil, 

266.  267;  The  Hague  Congress, 
268;   influence  of  Christ.   268,  269. 

War.     Repression    of    warlike    spirit, 

I:  365-370- 
Welch,    Bartholomew  T.,   I:  131,   132. 
White.    Moses,    I:  102,    103. 


504 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Wilkinson,    W.    C,    I:  164. 

Will   and    frtedom.    1:482-485. 

Will,  Acts  of,  as  related  to  Timeless- 
ness  in  JNlan  and  in  God,  1:  322- 
326. 

Will,  The  Use  of  the  Will  in  Re- 
ligion, II :  1 29-141. 
Dependence  and  independence  in 
religion,  129,  130;  use  of  the 
will  in  prayer,  130-132:  in  re- 
ception of  the  Holy  Spirit,  132, 
133;  in  realm  of  physical  healing, 
133-135;  in  all  speaking  for  Christ, 


13s.  136;  in  the  work  of  saving 
the  world,  137;  in  relation  to 
Christian  character,  138,  139;  in 
relation   to   immortality,    139-141. 

Williams,    Roger,   1:4. 

Williams,   William   R.,   I:  130. 

Windsor  Hotel   Fire,  I:  70,  228,  229. 

W^isdom,   Made  unto  us,  11:451-456. 

Woodbury,    D.    A.,    I:  162. 

Yesterdays,    Our    Enrichment    from, 
I:  98-112. 


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